Utilization of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Hydrolysate for Ethanol Production by Baker's Yeast and Loog-Pang

Oil palm empty fruit bunch is a potential source of glucose which can serve as a promising raw material for production of ethanol. Ethanol production was investigated by using separation hydrolysis and fermentation process (SHF), in which yeast from loog-pang (a Thai traditional fermentation starter culture) and baker's yeast were used as biocatalyst. After alkali pretreatment with 15% w/v NaOH for 40 min at 130 °C, Cellulose was analyzed to be 61.94% (on dry weight basis). Glucose was 33.45 g/L after cellulose was hydrolyzed by 7% v/v H2SO4 at 119 °C for 110 min. The resulting aqueous phase rich in glucose was fermented by yeast from baker's yeast to produce ethanol with the concentration of 8.49 g/L with is 56 times higher than loog-pang as yeast. Therefore, implementation of oil palm empty fruit bunch for the development of alternative source of energy could be an effective approach and key enable to the billion-ton biofuel vision.