Pencirian kimia dan fizikal bagi tandan kosong buah kelapa sawit

Abstract

The interest in Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) as a promising feedstock for bioconversion into value added products is growing fast, thus a thorough analysis of its component becomes necessary. In this study, the biomass chemical composition and physical feature of OPEFB was analysed to explore and understand the potential of OPEFB as bioconversion feedstock. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) standard protocols were used to characterize and determine the chemical composition of OPEFB. Through this protocol, the structural and non-structural constituents and their compositions were determined based on unextracted and extracted native OPEFB. Structural constituents include the carbohydrate, such as the glucan, xylan and arabinan, and lignin accounted for 31.2%, 18.7%, 2.7%, and 27.7%, while the non-structural constituents mainly refer to ash and extractives accounted for 0.10% and 11.87%. In addition, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis were also used to further characterize the chemical structure of OPEFB. The FTIR spectral peaks representing the functional groups cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin were observed. Through XRD analysis, the crystallinity index of native OPEFB fiber was calculated around 40%, while it was 37% for the powder form OPEFB. Nevertheless, the physical feature or surface morphology of the OPEFB fiber has been study by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). It shows a rigid strand’s surface and the presence of silica bodies which commonly found in woody plant.