Acetic acid-assisted hydrothermal fractionation of empty fruit bunches for high hemicellulosic sugar recovery with low byproducts.

Xylose, mannose, and galactose (xmg) recovery from empty fruit bunches using acetic acid-assisted hydrothermal (AAH) fractionation method was investigated. Acetic acid has been demonstrated to be effective in xmg recovery in comparison with the liquid hot-water (LHW) fractionation. The maximum xmg recovery yield (50.7 %) from the empty fruit bunch (EFB) was obtained using AAH fractionation at optimum conditions (6.9 wt.% acetic acid at 170 °C and for 18 min); whereas, only 16.2 % of xmg recovery was obtained from the LHW fractionation at the same reaction conditions (170 °C and 18 min). Releasing out the glucose from EFB was kept at low level (<1.0 %) through all tested conditions and consequently negligible 5-HMF and formic acid were analyzed in the hydrolyzate. The production of furfural was also resulted with extremely low level (1.0 g/L).