Improvement of Ethanol Production Using Activated Charcoal Detoxification of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Hydrolysate

This work deals with the enhancement of ethanol production of oil palm empty fruit bunch hydrolysate from the acid-catalysed steam explosion pretreatment. Effects of detoxification and non-detoxification of hydrolysates prior to fermentation by the common xylose-fermenting yeast Candida shehatae were determined. The results revealed that application of activated charcoal as the detoxification method had a significant impact on ethanol production giving a higher yield (2.09% v/v, equivalent to 81.03% theoretical yield) than nondetoxified hydrolysate (0.56 % v/v, equivalent to 21.67% theoretical yield) as activated charcoal enabled the reduction of significant amounts of inhibiting substances: furfural (99.08%) and 5- hydroxymethylfurfural (97.14%) in the hydrolysate.