LAUSR

Abstract The demand for affordable energy will continue to increase. On the other side, the utilization of fossil fuels is causing drastic changes to our climate forcing us to search for more sustainable sources of energy. Lignocellulosic biomass waste from palm oil industry in Malaysia is one of the most abundant and economically attractive sources of renewable energy. This can be utilized as the raw material for solid biofuel, i.e., Bio-Coke. Some efforts have been made to improve the quality of Bio-Coke in recent years. This study aims to determine the influence of biological pretreatment of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) on its subsequent Bio-Coke characteristics. The results show after pretreatment, the fiber structure of EFB could be seen clearly and a looser connection between single fibers is observed. The pretreatment leads to the biologically pretreated Bio-Coke having higher apparent density and longer combustion duration than the Bio-Coke without pretreatment.