Asian Researchers Develop Oil Palm Waste-to-Ethanol Process
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Researchers in Southeast Asia have identified an approach to producing ethanol using an abundant waste feedstock that could potentially add a significant source of biofuel production from oil palm plantations. Oil palm empty fruit bunch, which is basically the stem of harvested oil palm bunches, is an abundant biomass waste, with 15 million metric tons generated annually by palm oil mills in Malaysia alone. Malaysia and neighboring Indonesia produce about 90 percent of the world’s palm oil. Usually, the waste is burned or used as mulch. Using the right process, however, about half of that waste can be converted to fermentable glucose to achieve a high-yield ethanol. READ MORE Abstract and full study
