Statistical Approach for Hemicellulose Production from Delignified Palm Pressed Fiber and used as a Bio-material for One-stage Production of Furfural

摘要

Palm pressed fiber (PPF) is a potential source of hemicellulose production which is a starting material for furfural production. In this study, PPF was delignified by sodium chlorite (NaC102). Three parameters affecting extraction of hemicellulose from the delignified PPF (dPPF) were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) with 20 batch experiments. The optimum condition was found to be 28.8% (w/v) potassium hydroxide (KOH), the dPPF: KOH ratio of 1:20 (w/v) and reaction time of 20 min (R2= 98%). The highest hemicellulose yield of 38.67% (based on dPPF) with the xylose content of 80.8% was achieved. The extracted hemicellulose was used in one-stage process for furfural production. Optimization studies were conducted on the reaction temperature, liquid/solid ratio (LSR), sulfuric acid concentration and reaction time. The best condition was reaction temperature of 150°C, liquid/solid ratio of 8 ml/g hemicellulose, sulfuric acid concentration of 5% (v/v) and reaction time of 90 min. The highest furfural concentration of 0.86 g/1 or 3.44 wt% (g furfural/100 g hemicellulose) was obtained under this condition.