Enhancement of Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Lignocellulosic Materials by Nonionic Surfactant

Palm fruit bunch (PFB) and palm fruit residue (PFR) are considered as potential raw materials for ethanol production due to their large availability from palm oil industry. However, the presence of lignin can retard the rate of enzymatic hydrolysis. Both PFB and PFR were pretreated with a 10% w/v sodium hydroxide solution. The amounts of their hemicellulose were substantially decreased whereas their lignin contents were slightly reduced. After that, they were hydrolyzed using cellulase from Trichoderma reesei (ATCC 26921) at 50 °C and pH 5. An addition of Tween 80, nonionic surfactant, with 0.25% w/v concentration provided an increase in reducing sugar production about 50.5% at 10 FPU/g PFB cellulase loading, while the addition of Tween 80 with 0.5% w/v concentration increased reducing sugar production by 38.8% at 20 FPU/g PFR cellulase loading. The greater the amount of lignin in the lignocellulosic materials, the higher the dosages of enzyme and surfactant required for the enzymatic hydrolysis. The adsorption of added nonionic surfactant onto the hydrophobic surface of lignin resulted in an increase in the availability of added enzyme to both cellulose and hemicellulose, leading to the enhancement of enzymatic hydrolysis. Additionally, the adsorption of cellulase on PFB and PFR were well fitted with the Freundlich isotherm.