Integrated Green Pretreatment Methods for Oil Palm Lignocellulosic Biomass Valorization into Biofuels and Platform Chemicals

Lignocellulosic biomass is a by-product of oil palm industry, which is abundantly available in Malaysia.
Upgrading this biomass into platform chemicals and biofuels will lead to an increase in the value of
the oil palm industry and contribute to the national economy. A number of novel pretreatment
methods has been devised to degrade the structure of the lignocellulosic composite that makes up
the plant biomass material. Ionic liquid pretreatment is a green solvent capable of dissolving cellulose,
but it suffers from high cost. Deep eutectic solvent has similar properties to ionic liquid, capable of
dissolving lignin, with the added benefit of being cheaper than most ionic liquids. In this study, a series
of green pretreatment methods are integrated in order to chemically valorize oil palm empty fruit
bunch to produce platform chemicals and biofuels, namely cellulose nanocrystal, levulinic acid and
ethyl levulinate. Optimizations and kinetic studies will contribute towards potentially commercializing
this process at industrial scale.