Abstract

This study examines the practicable method of lignin delignification and fractionation from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches (OPEFB) to produce high purity products. A review on the current literature progress in this field indicated two development phases that involves several early studies on lignin delignification and lignin product purification and the later phase provides initial attempts to improve lignin recovery efficiency and overcome technical barriers for obtaining high purity lignin. It is found that there are significant gaps in understanding to achieve efficient removal of lignin, good recovery of lignin from high purity products and the removal of silica residuals on OPEFB surfaces. Accordingly, the high technical barriers to achieve high-purity lignin products are identified, including the need for an improved method to delignify and fractionate lignin for the purpose of producing a higher purity product. It can be concluded that fractions of lignin may be segregated and isolated by using the ultrafiltration method based on molecule mass and recovery to a higher purity product with over 98wt.%. High purity applications of OPEFB lignin, such as the propylene stabilizer and chemical sunscreen products, can therefore be produced. Accordingly, this review also provided an opportunity to further develop product applications towards anti-ultraviolet, antioxidant and antibacterial functions.

Keywords:Delignification; OPEFB; Lignin fractionation; Ultrafiltration