Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) as a Pretreatment for Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) in Sugar Production

Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) was pretreated using Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) at different parameters to enable a highest yield of sugar. DES is a combination of two or more cheap and safe components to form an eutectic mixture through hydrogen bond interaction, which has a melting point lower than that of each component. DES can be used to replace Ionic Liquids (ILs), which are more expensive and toxic. In this study, OPEFB was pretreated with DES mixture of choline chloride: urea in 1:2 molar ratio. The pretreatment was performed at temperature 110 °C and 80 °C for 4 hours and 1 hour. Pretreatment A (110 °C, 4 hours), B (110 °C, 1 hour), C (80 °C, 4 hours) and D (80 °C, 1 hour). Enzymatic hydrolysis was done by using the combination of two enzymes, namely, Cellic Ctec2 and Cellic Htec2. Morphology surface of OPEFB is observed under Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The treated fiber is tested for crystallinity using XRD and functional group analysis using FTIR, to check the effect of the pretreatment on the fiber and compared it with the untreated fiber. From XRD analysis, DES successfully gave an effect towards degree of crystallinity of cellulose. Pretreatment A and B successfully reduce the percentage of crystallinity while pretreatment C and D increased the percentage of crystallinity. From FTIR analysis, DES can expose the structure of cellulose even though the functional group of lignin and hemicellulose were still present. Upon enzymatic hydrolysis, DES-treated fiber successfully produced sugar but not significantly when compared with raw. Pretreatment A, B, C and D produced glucose at the amount of 60.47 mg/ml, 66.33 mg/ml, 61.96 mg/ml and 59.12 mg/ml respectively. However, pretreatment C gave the highest xylose (70.01 mg/ml) production compared to other DES pretreatments.