Effects of Process Parameters on Clay-Catalyzed Rice Husk Hydrolysis

In order to catalyse the transformation of the cellulose from rice husks into reducing sugars, clay was subjected to thermal treatment, HCl treatment, and NaOH treatment. This work aims to produce bioethanol from rice husk using a clay catalyst. Using proximate analysis and elemental analysis, rice husk was characterised in order to identify its composition. Response Surface Methodology (RSM), based on Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD), was used with design expert software to statistically optimise the process conditions. The maximum glucose yield of 22.18%, 20.58%, and 20.02% was realized when hydrolysis of rice husk was carried out with NaOH, thermal, and HCl treated clay, respectively. The numerical optimization with CCRD to maximize sugar yield gave 19.32% at 53.73 mins for alkaline treated clay and 16.76% at 46.48 mins for acid treated clay. Based on the findings of this research, alkaline treatment of clay for the hydrolysis of rice husk has demonstrated to produce the maximum glucose production when compared to acid and thermal treatment of clay.