Case study: preliminary assessment of integrated palm biomass biorefinery for bioethanol production utilizing non-food sugars from oil palm frond petiole

• Main Authors: Syed Abdullah, Sharifah Soplah, Shirai, Yoshihito, Mohd Ali, Ahmad Amiruddin, Mustapha, Mahfuzah, Hassan, Mohd Ali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2016
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/16879/1/Case%20study%20preliminary%20assessment%20of%20integrated%20palm%20biomass%20biorefinery%20for%20bioethanol%20production%20utilizing%20non-food%20sugars%20from%20oil%20palm%20frond%20petiole.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/16879/; http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196890415010298

In this case study, a preliminary assessment on the bioethanol production from oil palm frond (OPF) petiole sugars within an integrated palm biomass biorefinery was carried out. Based on the case study of 4 neighbouring palm oil mills, approximately 55,600 t/y of fermentable sugars could be obtained from OPF petiole. The integrated biorefinery will be located at one of the 4 mills. The mill has potential excess energy comprising 3.64 GW h/y of electricity and 177,000 t/y of steam which are sufficient to run the biorefinery. With 33.9 million litres/y of bioethanol production, the specific production cost of bioethanol is estimated at $ 0.52/l bioethanol, compared to $ 0.31–0.34/l bioethanol produced from sugarcane and $ 0.49–0.60/l bioethanol from other lignocellulosics. The net energy ratio of 7.48 for bioethanol production from OPF provides a promising alternative for OPF utilization as a non-food sugar feedstock.