A new biomass pretreatment system known as OzBiONY tm has been developed. OzBiONY tm consists of three main parts: ozone generator, ozone reactor, and ozone destructor. Using oil palm fronds (OPF), the ozone pretreatment method degrades 90% lignin with 0.8 mm OPF particle size. The total reducing sugar (TRS) yield reveals about 33% of glucose recovery compared to raw OPF at moderate process conditions. Meanwhile, the levulinic acid (LA) yield is enhanced up to 4-fold at 180°C within 1h for TRS hydrolysis using dilute H2SO4 (4 wt%) compared to commercial cellulose. Moreover, this technology helps to mitigate the abundance of agricultural biomass and forest residue by utilizing the biomass for high value-added products.
The OzBiONY tM system is ready for commercialization to pretreat various LB feedstocks such as OPF, EFB, sugar bagasse and pineapple waste to cellulose-rich component. The cellulose obtained after the pretreatment process is comparable to the commercial microcrystalline cellulose.
This project has been awarded:
- Silver medal in INATEX 2019, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor
- Bronze medal in MRCIE 2015, UNiKL Pasir Gudang, Johor
- Silver medal in INATEX 2015, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor
- Gold Medal in INATEX 2016, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor
