Production of formic acid from oil palm empty fruit bunch via dilute acid hydrolysis by response surface methodology

Abstract

Formic acid is the simplest carboxylic acid which has myriad applications in food, textiles, agriculture, pharmaceutics, and chemicals. Formic acid can be synthesized from hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) is lignocellulosic biomass produced by oil palm industries to which cellulose content has potential for conversion into formic acid by hydrolysis. We investigated effects of three parameters in acid-catalysed hydrolysis reaction of OPEFB such as reaction time (20, 40, 60 minutes), temperature (140, 160, 180 °C), and H2SO4 concentration (0.3; 0.5; 0.7 M) and optimized them to obtain maximum formic acid concentration by using response surface methodology. Microwave assisted alkaline pretreatment of OPEFB sample under microwave radiation at 840 Watt for 9 minutes with 2% NaOH concentration was done prior to hydrolysis. The pretreatment was effective to reduce lignin content of OPEFB from 28.9% to 7.6%. The highest actual formic acid concentration we obtained from the experiment was 2725 ppm at 180 °C, 60 minutes reaction time, and 0.5 M H2SO4. While according to the polynomial model, the optimal condition for obtaining maximum formic acid concentration of 2890.673 ppm was at 180 °C, reaction time of 60 minutes, and 0.3 M H2SO4.

Techno-economic evaluation of integrated levulinic acid, formic acid, and furfural plant from oil palm empty fruit bunch with pre-treatment variations

“…Hydrolysis of cellulose from pretreated OPEFB can produce levulinic acid (Gozan et al, 2018), while hemicellulose hydrolysis from OPEFB can produce furfural . Formic acid is produced from the hydrolysis of both cellulose and hemicellulose (Harahap et al, 2019b;.…”

Techno-Economic Evaluation of Hand Sanitiser Production Using Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch-Based Bioethanol by Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation (SSF) Process

“…Sahlan et al have examined bioethanol production from OPEFBs using Rhizopus oryzae encapsulated using calcium alginate [14]. Panjaitan and Gozan have investigated formic acid production from the acid catalysed hydrolysis reaction of OPEFBs; Harahap et al have further optimised the production process using the response surface methodology (RSM) method [22,23]. In addition, Gozan et al have produced levulinic acid and furfural from OPEFBs and have evaluated its production kinetics [24].…”