Production of valuable chemicals from oil palm biomass using hot-compressed water method

Oil palm industry discharges a large amount of biomass waste which can be converted into energy and chemicals. Hence, several biomass conversion methods are available, such as fermentation, pyrolysis, and gasification. In this work, the hot-compressed water method was proposed to produce valuable chemicals from oil palm biomass (oil palm fiber, shell, and empty fruit bunches). Each material was individually treated in a batch autoclave reactor at 200–300 °C for 30 min. After separation, the total organic carbon of the liquid product was measured by a Shimadzu TOC-5000A instrument, while its composition was analyzed by HPLC and GC/MC apparatus. Experimental results showed that liquid product of oil palm wastes contains various chemicals such as glucose, xylose, 5-HMF, furfural, acetic acid, formic acid, phenol, catechol, and phenol 2,6-di-methoxy. This liquid product composition was strongly dependent on the temperature treatment. In general, sugar-derived compounds (glucose, xylose, 5-HMF, furfural, acetic acid, formic acid) were primarily found in lower temperature; meanwhile, lignin-derived compounds (phenol, catechol, and phenol 2,6-di-methoxy) were mainly obtained in higher temperature.