Extraction of Lignin from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) by Physico-Chemical Method

About 94% of agricultural residue comes from palm oil industry. The solid biomass from palm oil is made up of 53% oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB), 32% mesocarp and 15% fiber and palm kernel shell. Disposing large tonnages of biomass generated daily is a problem for the industry. Full exploitation of this biomass can be done by maximizing the utilization of this biomass to form high value-added products which not only reduce the waste but also generate additional profit to the palm oil industry. OPEFB, which is considered as lignocellulosics available in large quantities and has fairly high lignin content with an average of 20.5% based on an oven dried basis. However, the lignocellulosics must be separated into individual components. The purpose of this study is to do the extraction of lignin from the Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) by physic-chemical method. By comparison, the extraction of lignin by physic-chemical method yields higher percentage of lignin than chemical extraction. Maximum lignin is extracted at 1 hour by physico-chemical method.