Valorization of palm biomass waste into carbon matrices for the immobilization of recombinant Fusarium heterosporum lipase towards palm biodiesel synthesis

Abstract Continuous expansion of agriculture for the production of biofuels may be considered a potential source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the ever-increasing amount of waste and fossil fuel-dependent materials involved. Agricultural waste utilization through the circular bioeconomy concept offers a pathway to reduce GHG emissions. Palm oil production, for instance, produces palm kernel shells (PKS) and palm oil mill effluents (POME) as wastes in enormous amounts. PKS and POME account for >60% of solid and liquid waste generated from the mill. In this work, the feasibility of a circular palm bioeconomy is explored where waste PKS is directly converted to activated carbons (AC) in a cost-effective one-step technique (550 °C, 10 mL min−1 N2) that departs from the conventional two-step (carbonization and activation) technique. Characterization of the synthesized carbons, PKAC, using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy showed oxygen-rich morphological features that were 2-fold higher than in bituminous coal-derived AC. The