Production of anhydrous ethanol using oil palm empty fruit bunch in a pilot plant

Published Date
August 2014, Vol.67:99–107, doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2014.04.022

Author 

• Hyungjin Jeon ^a,1
• Kyeong-Eop Kang ^a,1
• Jun-Seong Jeong ^a
• Gyeongtaek Gong ^b
• Jae-Wook Choi^b
• Haznan Abimanyu ^c
• Byoung Sung Ahn ^b
• Dong-Jin Suh ^b
• Gi-Wook Choi ^a,,

• aChanghae Advanced Institute of Technology, Changhae Ethanol Co., Ltd., 15 Wonmanseong-ro, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju 561-203, Republic of Korea
• bClean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, 5 Hwarangno 14-gil, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-791, Republic of Korea
• cResearch Center for Chemistry, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Kawasan Puspiptek, Serpong 15314, Indonesia

Received 11 September 2013. Revised 9 December 2013. Accepted 18 April 2014. Available online 15 May 2014. 

Highlights

• All bioethanol production processes were constructed as automatically controlled integrated processes.
• •
  Ethanol conversion rate, distillation, and dehydration efficiency were 83.6%, 98.9%, and 99.2%, respectively.
• •
  The material balance could be calculated using results from operation of the pilot-scale bioethanol plant.
• •
  It was possible to produce 123.6 kg anhydrous ethanol (99.7 wt%) from 1000 kg EFB.

Abstract

Bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass for use as an alternative energy resource has attracted increasing interest, but short-term commercialization will require several technologies such as low cost feedstock. The huge amount of oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) generated from palm oil industries can be used as a raw material for cheap, renewable feedstock for further commercial exploitation. Using a pilot-scale bioethanol plant, this study investigated the possibility of utilizing oil palm empty fruit bunches as a renewable resource. All bioethanol production processes such as pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, and purification were constructed as automatically controlled integrated processes. The mass balance was calculated from operational results. Changhae ethanol multiexplosion pretreatment with sodium hydroxide was conducted to improve the enzymatic hydrolysis process, and a separate hydrolysis and fermentation process was used for producing bioethanol at an 83.6% ethanol conversion rate. In order to purify the ethanol, a distillation and dehydration facility was operated. Distillation and dehydration efficiencies were 98.9% and 99.2%, respectively. The material balance could be calculated using results obtained from the operation of the pilot-scale bioethanol plant. As a result, it was possible to produce 144.4 kg anhydrous ethanol (99.7 wt%) from 1000 kg EFB. This result constitutes a significant contribution to the feasibility of bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass and justifies the pilot plant's scale-up to a commercial-scale plant.

Keywords

Lignocellulose

Oil palm EFB

Bioethanol

Pilot plant

Material balance

---

Fig. 1.

 Table 1

Table 1.

 Table 2

Table 2.

 Table 3

Table 3.

Fig. 2.

 Table 4

Table 4.

 Table 5

Table 5.

 Table 6

Table 6.

Fig. 3.

• ∗ 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 63 214 7800; fax: +82 63 214 7805.
  
  

For further details log on website :
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852412000429