Effect of inoculum size and addition of calcium carbonate on lactic ACID production from oil palm fronds / Geertthiga A/P Ganeson

Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering Technology

Final Year Report (Bachelor of Chemical Engineering ) -- Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah - 2024

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Lactic Acid (LA) has arisen as a suitable and promising replacement for petroleum-based chemicals and fuels which are in application in many different industries. Producing LA by using Oil Palm Frond (OPF) through Solid State Fermentation (SSF) with Effective Microorganism (EM) is an eco-friendly method. The real motivation behind this is to increase the marketing growth of LA is plays the main role in the production of biopolymer polylactic acid. This is an alternative method to conventional fuel sources. The problem statement is to use OPF as a feedstock to produce LA because OPF also has a similar content as other parts of oil palm waste such as empty fruit bunch. This not only contributes to the growth of lactic acid but also solves waste management in the oil palm industry as an initiative for the global environment. This study focuses on optimizing the production of LA by investigating the impact of varying inoculum size and the effect of calcium carbonate during fermentation using OPF as a feedstock. The experimental design involved varying concentrations of EM (ranging from 1% to 5% v/w) at different time intervals (0, 5, 15, and 20 days). LA was determined using Iron(III) Chloride, and the assay of reducing sugar (RS) was conducted with DNS reagent. The results revealed that both the concentration of EM and fermentation time significantly influenced lactic acid production and additional calcium carbonate enhanced the production of LA. The most optimal conditions to yield LA production to maximum are a 5% concentration of EM, a 15-day fermentation period, and the presence of calcium carbonate. In conclusion, this study proved OPF as a feedstock can produce LA through SSF by varying inoculum size and the addition of calcium carbonate. The pretreatment of OPF as a recommendation can maximize the production of LA to access the sugar easily. Keywords: Oil Palm Frond, Lactic Acid, Solid-State Fermentation, Calcium Carbonate,Inoculum Size