Parametric Study on Microwave-assisted Alkaline Pretreatment of Hybrid Abaca (Musa sp.) Stripping Waste as a Potential Feedstock for Bioethanol Production

Author : Ngohayon, Joel Marc Aguada
Major Adviser : Guerrero, Gino Apollo M.
Committee Members : Razal, Ramon A.; Manalo, Ronniel D.; Bambase Jr., Manolito E.
Year : 2015
Month : June
Type : Thesis
Degree: BS
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Abstract

Developing a low-cost and effective way to disrupt the recalcitrant structures of the lignocellulose has been extensively researched. Due to the low value use and abundance of abaca stripping waste, it was utilized and studied to determine the effects of selected factors affecting the microwave-assisted alkaline pretreatment. The factors that were studied are the use of microwave heating, reaction time, and alkaline concentration. Results showed that the sugar yield after pretreatment is greatly affected by the presence of microwave heating and alkaline concentration and their interaction. The highest reducing sugar and total carbohydrates yield was recorded when using microwave heating in alkaline pretreatment with 10% (w/v) NaOH solution for 10 minutes amounting to 14.858 ± 2.650 mg/g dry biomass and 60.773 ± 23.945 mg/g dry biomass respectively. It was found out that introducing microwave heating to the alkaline pretreatment increases the reducing sugar yield up to 69.28% and total carbohydrates yield up to 133.09%. It was also found out that increasing the alkaline concentration from 4% (w/v) to 10% (w/v) NaOH solution increases the reducing sugar yield up to 73.85% and total carbohydrates yield up to 140.30%. For the reaction time, increasing it from 5 minutes to 10 minutes resulted to a small increase in the reducing sugar up to 8.55% and total carbohydrates up to 14.11%. Although the results show that microwave-assisted alkaline pretreatment is an effective pretreatment method for abaca stripping waste, the sugar yield after pretreatment is still not comparatively enough to be used for bioethanol production.


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