PRELIMINARY STUDY OF LIGNIN UTILIZATION FROM THE PALM OIL EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH (EFB) DELIGNIFICATION LIQUOR TO VANILLIN THROUGH BIOLOGICAL ROUTE

• Main Author: Amir Muhammad, Syahdan
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik kimia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/64866
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Indonesia is one of the top palm oil producers in the world with a production capacity of 49,12 million tonnes of Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) in 2020. About 10,81 million tonnes of palm oil Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) containing 21,28-22,10% lignin will be produced. Lignin consists of various aromatic monomers which can be converted to various commercial derivative products, so it has high economic value. However, this great potential of lignin has not been fully utilized in Indonesia. Vanillin is the most popular flavoring ingredients in the world and has been widely used in food, perfume, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industry with a global market potential of 480,1 million USD. Vanillin can be produced through catalytic or biological processing of lignin. Compared to the catalytic processing which has several drawbacks on energy consumption and environmental aspects, biological lignin processing has a wider range of vanillin yields depending on microorganism being used, can be done in ambient temperature and pressure, and environmental friendly. However, it has not been implemented on an industrial scale. In this research, the vanillin production from soluble lignin of EFB delignification liquor through biological route will be developed. This development was focused on the lignin-model compound quantification in EFB delignification liquor, analysis of significant factors affecting vanillin mass yield and productivity; the fermentation bacteria, inhibitor concentration, and EFB delignification liquor source. The fermentation of hydrothermal EFB delignification liquor using Pseudomonas putida DSM 6125 with 5 mM DTT presence results on 0.0009 ± 0.0012% vanillin mass yield and 0.17 ± 0.22 ppm/hour vanillin productivity, while the other experimental results give negative results on vanillin mass yield and productivity.