Optimization studies on acid hydrolysis of oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber for production of xylose

Oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber is a lignocellulosic waste from palm oil mills. It is a potential source of xylose which can be used as a raw material for production of xylitol, a high value product. The increasing interest on use of lignocellulosic waste for bioconversion to fuels and chemicals is justifiable as these materials are low cost, renewable and widespread sources of sugars. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of H2SO4 concentration, reaction temperature and reaction time for production of xylose. Batch reactions were carried out under various reaction temperature, reaction time and acid concentrations and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was followed to optimize the hydrolysis process in order to obtain high xylose yield. The optimum reaction temperature, reaction time and acid concentration found were 119 °C, 60 min and 2%, respectively. Under these conditions xylose yield and selectivity were found to be 91.27% and 17.97 g/g, respectively.