Two common potential biofuels from oil palm biomass are producer gas from gas­ification and biogas via anaerobic digestion. A pilot scale compartmented fluidised — bed gasifier was set up in MPOB Experimental Palm Oil Mill in Labu to produce syngas using palm shell and mesocarp fibre (Rahman et al. 2011).

POME contains high concentrations of organics (BOD = 18,225-23,904 ppm, COD=45,818-54,861 ppm) and suspended solids. Through decomposition of organic matters in anaerobic pond by microorganism, biogas with 60-70% methane (CH4), 30-40% carbon dioxide (CO2) and trace amount of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is produced (Loh et al. 2011) . An estimated biogas production form POME of around 1,560 million m3 a year (2010) is attainable.

To capture biogas from POME, two common technologies have been used: digester and covered lagoon. The biogas trapped can be used in various applications such as on and off grid electricity generation, CHP for steam and heat, co-firing in biomass boiler and diesel generator set to reduce the utilisation of palm shell and diesel and lastly gas bottling as an emerging filed but has yet to be fully exploited.

Under NKEA, all palm oil mills have to construct biogas trapping facility by 2020. The current status of biogas trapping facility in the palm oil industry is as follows: 57 plants completed, 15 under construction and 149 under planning (MPOB survey 2012). The palm oil industry has a potential to be a major player in mitigating GHG emis­sions, with a potential of 16-20 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year mitigated.

Other feedstock for second-generation biofuels is jatropha which was initiated by the government and is currently ongoing under the National Jatropha Programme led by SIRIM.