**3. Conversion of oil palm biomass into biochemical product**

Oil palm biomass can be converted into biochemical products using a variety of methods, including fermentation, esterification, and anaerobic digestion. Fermentation is the most widely used of these because it is a non-toxic and environmentally friendly process.

Prior to the fermentation process, lignocellulosic biomass is typically pre-treated to break down the cellulose into simple sugars (i.e. maltose, glucose, fructose). The most important impact on fermentation results comes from pre-treatment [8]. Pretreatment breaks down the biomass's recalcitrant structures, making cellulose more accessible to the organism.

The cellulose and hemicellulose content of oil palm biomass is high, which are primary sources for the fermentation process (**Table 2**). Microorganisms convert sugars extracted from lignocellulosic biomass to a variety of desired products during the fermentation phase. For example, *Saccharomyces cerevisiae* produces ethanol, *Lactobacillus sp*. produces lactic acid, and *Actinobacillus succinogenes* produces succinic acid.

There are two forms of fermentation that can be used in the fermentation method. The solid-state fermentation (SSF) method is the first. SSF creates a natural environment for filamentous fungi to grow, which has proven to be a more efficient method of producing various products [9, 10, 15–17]. Submerged fermentation (SmF) is the other kind of fermentation. Due to easier control and maintenance of fermentation factors, most cellulases and xylanase enzymes are commercially generated using SmF [18].


#### **Table 2.**

*Type of oil palm biomass and the chemical composition.*
