Abstract:
Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is a lignocellulosic biomass which has not been utilized
optimally. Fractination of elephant grass can be converted into valuable products, such as pulp.
The objectives on this research is to study the effect of the process condition on pulp yield,
cellulose and lignin contetnt in pulp. The effect of process condition were studied by Response
Surface Methodology (RSM) using Central Composite Design (CCD). Fractionation of elephant
grass performed on a normal boiling point of the solution with a concentration of formic acid
(60%, 70% and 80%), the reaction time of 60-180 minutes, solid to liquid ratio of 10/1 to 20/1, 40
grams elephant grass, HCl catalyst 0.1% wt. The result shows that fractionation of elephant grass
have yield pulp of 53.6% to 73.7%, cellulose pulp of 84.03% to 93.97% and lignin pulp of 11% to
19.5%. the concentration of formic acid and reaction time influence each response significantly
