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Removing lignin, delignification, is necessary to increase the cellulose and hemicellulose contents. Usually, the conventional of delignification process involves high alkaline (2.5 M) and high temperature (150 °C) conditions. In this work, the delignification of oil palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) was investigated using microwave irradiation at low alkaline concentrations. Further, the effect of adding hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a hydroxyl radical source in the delignification process was also evaluated. The delignification of EFB was carried out by adding 7.5 g of EFB/L and 500 ppm of H2O2 in NaOH solution until the total volume of 200 mL. The process was conducted in the microwave with a setting power of 100 Watt for 15 min. The NaOH concentration varied at 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and maximum at 0.8 M, around 10% of the conventional delignification condition. It was found that the temperature of the solution increased with increasing times of the microwave radiation process. The total suspended solid (TSS) was influenced significantly by NaOH concentration. The addition of H2O2 has less effect on lignin removal. Lignin removal in 0.2 M NaOH without and with H2O2 reached 26% and 27%, respectively. The higher NaOH concentration could penetrate holocellulose so that the lignin percentage increased. The visualization of EFB by SEM proved that delignification proceeded successfully, in which could remove impurities from the surface of EFB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trend of using palm oil-based commodities in the global market continues to increase from year to year. Along with the development of the palm oil industry, the greater the amount of solid waste that accumulates can cause environmental problems. Slow pyrolysis technology is one alternative solution to overcome the pollution of oil palm lignocellulosic solid waste. The process produces carbon as green energy and has the potential for many applications such as activated carbon (absorbent, pharmaceutical, catalyst, energy storage) and soil remediation. This study is focused on the development of carbon material from oil palm solid waste such as palm kernel shells (PKS), empty fruits bunch (EFB), and oil palm frond (OPF). The oil palm solid wastes were carbonized with/without KOH activation under 300 – 700°C, heating rate 10°C/min, held for 30 min, and at atmospheric pressure. Before the experiments, the raw solid biomass were characterized the component content analysis, ultimate analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The study shows that the biochars produced by pretreatment of KOH have a higher carbon content than that without pretreatment. The carbon content of biochar was analyzed using a CHN analyzer. The results of OPF with KOH activation have the highest C content of 84.4% at pyrolysis of 600°C. This result is in line with the characteristics of OPF, which has the highest holocellulose content among others. Fourier Transform IR (FTIR) spectra exhibited some functional groups on the surface of biochars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lignocellulosic biomass is a potential renewable source of raw material for chemical industry and fuels. Lignin is the second largest of the three components of biomass, together with cellulose and hemicellulose. Meanwhile, oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) is available in large quantity in Indonesia. Soda black liquor is a waste product from the soda pulping process of OPEFB with lignin as the main constituent. This study was carried out to reutilize the waste soda black liquor by isolating the lignin and modifying the washing process to increase the purity of lignin produced. The novelty of this study is the combination of the isolation of insoluble and soluble material from black liquor to increase isolation efficiency. The isolation process of lignin from soda black liquor is carried out firstly by aeration of black liquor for 14 days. Then, the insoluble material was separated and washed. During washing process, firstly, lignin was dissolve and recovered by addition of HCl 10%. The purification process was then carried out by washing the lignin by using water in a continuous filtration method. The results showed that the lignin can be isolated not only from soluble fraction of soda black liquor but also from insoluble after aeration process with a yield of 12.18%. The washing process succeeded in increasing the purity of lignin recovered by HCl from 47.91% in unwashed lignin to 91% in purified lignin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]