An overview of the oil palm industry in Malaysia and its waste utilization through thermochemical conversion, specifically via liquefaction

Abstract

Malaysia is among the top most important palm oil producers in the world. The country is experiencing a robust development in new oil palm plantations and palm oil mills. This commodity plays a significant role in the Malaysia economic growth. As this industry becomes bigger and wider, a substantial amount of oil palm wastes is generated and create the problem of biomass waste overload. This problem tends to burden the operators with disposal difficulties and escalates the operating cost. Oil palm waste has significant potential in many applications. Traditionally, through mechanical conversion, some of the wastes are converted into organic fertilizers, animal feedstock or soil conditioner in oil palm plantations. Apart from mechanical conversion, thermochemical processes such as direct combustion, gasification, pyrolysis and liquefaction are the methods that are useful to transform the waste into value-added products. Recently, liquefaction has gained good attention in order to utilize the waste because of its simplicity and ability to yield a product that combine both of the useful functional groups present in liquefying solvents and the biomass. Within the scope, the objective of this paper is to review the current situation related to the oil palm industry in Malaysia, availability of the oil palm waste and its utilization through thermochemical conversion, with specific regards to the liquefaction process.