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The ethanol industry is established mainly in the United States and Europe. In the US, over 95 percent of ethanol is corn-based. This ethanol production pathway has been criticized for having an unfavourable net energy balance and significant arable land and water requirements, as well as environmental impacts such as soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and higher volatile organic compound and NOx pollution. The legislation to limit green house gas (GHG) emissions is a key driver of lignocellulosic ethanol which has been shown to reduce GHG emissions drastically (88%). The feed versus fuel debate is also driving lignocellulosic feedstocks such as agricultural and forestry residues (canola straw), herbaceous (alfalfa, switch grass) and woody crops. For this reason, major ethanol producers such as the US have identified agricultural and forestry residues, municipal solid wastes, herbaceous and woody crops as feedstocks for the production of transportation fuel.

The properties of oil palm fiber were estimated and compared with oil seed flax and industrial hemp fibers. Biocomposite of oil palm fiber and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) was manufactured. The effect of fiber size, fiber content and fiber treatment on dimensional stability of the biocomposite was studied. The true density of oil palm fiber is found to be 1503 kg m-₃. The oil palm fibers obtained from field contained nearly one-fourth impurities, and the equilibrium moisture contents (EMC) values of fibers nearly doubled with 25% increase in relative humidity. The dielectric constant of oil palm fiber was in the range of 7.76-8.31. The oil palm fiber resulted in thermograms with two endothermic peaks and three exothermic peaks with the first degradation temperature at 301.71°C. Alkali treatment reduced first degradation temperature to 297.1°C.