Effects of various pretreatments of oil palm empty fruit bunch fibres for subsequent use as substrate on the performance of cellulase production by Aspergillus Terreus.

The possibility of using treated oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) fibres as substrate for cellulase production by Aspergillus terreus was studied using shaking flask fermentation. The effect of different chemical pretreatments, i.e. formic acid, acetic acid, propylamine, phosphoric acid, and n-butylamine, on the suitability of OPEFB fibres as fermentation substrate was investigated. The findings revealed that pretreatment with these chemicals significantly (P