Screening conditions for acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of empty fruit bunches

•We used empty fruit bunches as a feedstock.•Screening conditions were examined for a dilute acid pretreatment.•Three different enzyme loadings were examined for enzymatic saccharification.•Best conversions of carbohydrates were 81.4% for xylose and 74.8% for glucose.

Empty fruit bunches were received from Teck Guan, Malaysia and were pretreated and enzymatically hydrolyzed to determine the possible sugar recovery from the biomass. Several different conditions were explored in a screening study. Temperature ranged from 100 °C to 150 °C, time ranged from 30 to 90 min, and acid loading ranged from 0 to 1.3% weight acid/weight liquid. The material was then enzymatically hydrolyzed at three different enzyme loadings 1.67%, 3.33%, and 6.66% (g enzyme/g glucan × 100) and total sugar recovery was calculated for both pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. Best pretreatment conditions yielded 81.4% recovery of hydrolyzed xylan. Best glucan conversions in enzymatic hydrolysis were 74.8%. These conversions and recoveries make empty fruit bunches a good potential feedstock for cellulosic ethanol.