HYDROTHERMAL PRETREATMENT OF EMPTY FRUIT BUNCHES FOR THE POTENTIAL PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL.

In general, lignocellulosic biomass contains three major components, namely lignin,
hemicellulose and cellulose which are the polymers of C5 and C6 sugars. Thus, there
is potential to utilize of this biomass for bioethanol production. The hydrolysis of
cellulose into glucose was difficult due to the more fibrous nature and thus inhibits
enzyme penetration into the cellulose. In order to solve this problem, hydrothermal
pretreatment can be used for breaking the bonds within the lignin structure and
increase the accessibility of enzyme into the cellulose. In this study, the works has
been conducted in two different stages, e.g. ethanol production and glucose
optimization. Separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) is the common process in
producing ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass. Nowadays, simultaneous
saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process has been seen as potential process for
producing ethanol with shortens process time with higher yield of ethanol.