Extraction of hemicellulose from oil palm biomass using subcritical water extraction to produce value-added product or fine chemicals

Renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro, solar, hydrogen, nuclear and biomass are various type of alternatives energy available to replace non-renewable fossil fuels. The total oil palm biomass produced by Malaysia alone is about 53.04 million tonnes (mt), which include 17.08 mt of empty fruit bunches, 9.66 mt of fibre, 5.2 mt of shell, 12.9 and 8.2 mt of fronds and trunks. This research will focused on the production of value-added product or fine chemicals based on extraction of xylose and xylooligosaccharides from hemicellulose of lignocellulosic biomass. As preliminary results, the pH value, TOC value and total sugar concentration were determined