Enhancing Enzymatic Digestibility and Lignin Production of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) by Green Deep Eutectic Solvent.

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Title:	Enhancing Enzymatic Digestibility and Lignin Production of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) by Green Deep Eutectic Solvent.
Authors:	Wijaya, Candra^1,2, Pertiwi, Urania Noor Lintang¹, Apol, Tabina Raissa¹, Rohmah, Ika Putri Nikmatur¹, Muharja, Maktum¹, Widjaja, Tri¹, Riadi, Lieke², Widjaja, Arief¹ arief.widjaja@its.ac.id
Source:	Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis. Aug2026, Vol. 21 Issue 2, p412-427. 16p.
Subjects:	Delignification, Lignocellulose, Biomass conversion, Bioconversion, Lignification, Hydrolases
Abstract:	Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) is an abundant lignocellulosic residue whose high lignin content restricts its bioconversion into sugars and value-added products. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs), particularly choline chloride--lactic acid, offer a green and tunable platform for selective delignification and biomass fractionation. This study investigates the effects of ChCl:LA (1:2) DES pretreatment under varying temperatures (100-140 °C) and reaction times (3-6 h) on the chemical composition, structural modification, delignification kinetics, and enzymatic digestibility of OPEFB. A modified combined delignification factor (CDF) was developed to unify temperature, time, and DES acidity into a single severity descriptor. Delignification followed a biphasic pattern successfully captured by the CDF-based kinetic model (R² = 0.9961), with activation energy of 63.5 kJ.mol-1. Increasing pretreatment severity enhanced hemicellulose and lignin removal (up to 95.5% and 84.4%), while cellulose remained largely preserved. SEM, XRD, and FTIR analyses confirmed progressive disruption of the lignin--carbohydrate matrix, increased cellulose exposure, and removal of amorphous domains. As a result, enzymatic hydrolysis yield improved by more than twofold relative to untreated biomass, reaching 75.5% at 140 °C for 6 h. Mass-balance evaluation demonstrated that from 100 g OPEFB, DES pretreatment yielded 21.6 g glucose and 24.7 g recoverable lignin under optimal conditions. Compared to other pretreatment strategies, the ChCl:LA DES system achieved a balanced co-production of sugars and lignin in significantly shorter processing time. Overall, this work provides mechanistic, kinetic, and mass-balance insights into DES-assisted fractionation of OPEFB and highlights its potential in integrated multiproduct biorefineries . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Engineering Source

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Abstract:	Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) is an abundant lignocellulosic residue whose high lignin content restricts its bioconversion into sugars and value-added products. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs), particularly choline chloride--lactic acid, offer a green and tunable platform for selective delignification and biomass fractionation. This study investigates the effects of ChCl:LA (1:2) DES pretreatment under varying temperatures (100-140 °C) and reaction times (3-6 h) on the chemical composition, structural modification, delignification kinetics, and enzymatic digestibility of OPEFB. A modified combined delignification factor (CDF) was developed to unify temperature, time, and DES acidity into a single severity descriptor. Delignification followed a biphasic pattern successfully captured by the CDF-based kinetic model (R² = 0.9961), with activation energy of 63.5 kJ.mol-1. Increasing pretreatment severity enhanced hemicellulose and lignin removal (up to 95.5% and 84.4%), while cellulose remained largely preserved. SEM, XRD, and FTIR analyses confirmed progressive disruption of the lignin--carbohydrate matrix, increased cellulose exposure, and removal of amorphous domains. As a result, enzymatic hydrolysis yield improved by more than twofold relative to untreated biomass, reaching 75.5% at 140 °C for 6 h. Mass-balance evaluation demonstrated that from 100 g OPEFB, DES pretreatment yielded 21.6 g glucose and 24.7 g recoverable lignin under optimal conditions. Compared to other pretreatment strategies, the ChCl:LA DES system achieved a balanced co-production of sugars and lignin in significantly shorter processing time. Overall, this work provides mechanistic, kinetic, and mass-balance insights into DES-assisted fractionation of OPEFB and highlights its potential in integrated multiproduct biorefineries . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	19782993
DOI:	10.9767/bcrec.20526