Oil Palm Plantation Wastes

Abstract

In Malaysia, palm oil industry is an irreplaceable economic activity due to its high global demand in both food and non-food industries. Thus, large land areas have been used for oil palm plantation in this country. However, oil palm plantation is also generating large amount of raw biomass. The major oil palm biomass produced in the oil palm plantation includes oil palm fronds and oil palm trunk. One hectare of oil palm planted area produces approximately 10 tonnes of oil palm fronds and 75 tonnes of oil palm trunk. In fact, huge amount of solid oil palm biomass is found on the plantations and the rest is generated in the mills during the production of crude palm oil. Even though both oil palm plantation solid wastes have been occupying the majority among the oil palm biomass, the fronds are merely utilized as mulch, while the trunks are normally left to burn or decay in the plantation area. Such underutilization of oil palm plantation wastes is encouraging the researchers to find ways to valorize the solid wastes into different bio-based products. Thus, this review highlights the potential reuse of oil palm fronds and oil palm trunk as the lignocellulosic biomass in producing bioenergy, bio-based chemicals, biochar, fertilizer, animal feed and other bio-based products.