Preface

Palm oil (*Elaeis guineensis*) originated in West Africa as a native plant useful for a variety of purposes, and several plantations have since spread widely, particularly in the South American and Asian continents. Until the mid-1960s, Nigeria was thought to be the world's largest producer of palm oil. As a result of rapid growth in the palm oil industry, Malaysia's palm oil production surpassed that of Nigeria. Malaysia was the world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil and its associated products until 2007 when Indonesia surpassed Malaysia. Palm oil tree grows well in tropical climates with a lot of rain, responsible for the successful cultivation of the plant in Indonesia and Malaysia. These two countries produce approximately 85% of the world's palm oil, with Indonesia and Malaysia contributing 44 and 41% of yields, respectively.

Annually, large amounts of palm oil biomass are generated, with only a small portion being converted into value-added products and a large portion remaining unutilized. Several researchers have published reports on the various technologies available for converting palm oil biomass into useful bioproducts such as biofuel, biogas, biofertilizers, biocomposite, and briquettes. In general, these technologies are either underutilized or insufficient for full conversion of this abundantly available biomass; thus, there is an urgent need for such technologies to be upgraded. Palm oil biomass produced on the plantation includes oil palm trunk (OPT) and oil palm fronds (OPF); biomass produced at the palm oil processing mills includes empty fruit bunch (EFB), palm kernel shell (PKS), mesocarp fiber (MF), and palm oil mill effluent (POME).

Nowadays, the palm oil enterprise is developing quickly and turning into a noteworthy agriculture-based industry in the world. While the palm oil industry has been recognized strongly for its contribution toward economic growth and rapid development, it has also contributed to environmental pollution due to the production of large quantities of by-products during the process of oil extraction.

Palm oil is the most productive oil-producing plant in the world, with 1 hectare of palm tree producing between 10 and 35 tons of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) per year. During the processing of palm oil, more than 70% of the weight of the FFB was left over as waste. Usually, the harvested part is the fruit where oil is obtained from its fleshy mesocarp. Despite the importance of edible oil and fats extracted from palm fruits, the POME contains residual oil that affects the environment and thus cannot be ignored. Treatment and disposal of oily wastewater such as POME are presently one of the serious environmental problems. Palm oil mill wastes have existed for years, but their effects on the environment are at present more noticeable. The oily waste has to be removed to prevent problems concerning hazardous pollutants particularly in the aquatic environments because they are highly toxic to the organisms. Discharging the effluents or by-products to lands or releasing them to rivers

may lead to pollution and might deteriorate the surrounding environment. In order to conserve the environment, an efficient management system in the treatment of these by-products is needed.

> **Dr. Hesam Kamyab** Malaysia–Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Section 1 Palm Oil
