Summary Monoacylglycerol (MAG) was produced from crude palm oil (CPO) by the enzymatic glycerolysis reaction in organic solvents. The optimal conditions for MAG production from CPO were: the use of a mixture of tert‐butanol and hexane (1:1) as the organic solvents; an immobilised lipase of 40%; a molar ratio of glycerol to CPO of 8:1 with 4% of water content in the glycerol; and an initial CPO concentration of 10%. A maximum yield of 74.3% MAG was obtained with an initial production rate of 42.3 mg MAG mL−1 h−1. By converting CPO to the more polar MAG, the efficiency of recovery of carotenoids by adsorption column chromatography was improved up to 75.7% from 55.1% when using unconverted CPO. This study provides information that will be useful for developing an efficient and cheaper industrialised process for the production of MAG from CPO and recovery of carotenoids from the reaction product.

Thermal properties of torrefied empty fruit bunch biochar were investigated in this study as an alternative to be a renewable energy material for future. Holding temperature range between 200 to 300°C and residence time for 30 to 90 minutes were applied as the factors for the torrefaction process. This study observed the thermal properties of torrefied empty fruit bunch biochar by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to study the thermal decomposition before and after torrefaction process. Thermogravimetric analysis was used in identifying those properties, which is dividing into three stages of dehydration, devolatilizations and decomposition of the torrefied biochar. During the dehydration, the moisture content was removed, meanwhile during the second stage (devolatilizations), the volatile matter was removed along with the removal of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin, while on the third stage shows the decompositions of the torrefied biochar to completely degrade.

Goniothalamus velutinus is from the family of annonaceae and it is native to Borneo. It is also known as “kayu tas” or “kayu hujan panas”. This type of wood is rarely encountered and also hard to find in the forest. It grows in the shady primary rainforest of tropical Asia, and approximately 160 species of this genus have been discovered. This plant is also known to have anti-cancer, anti-tumour and many other bioactivities. In this study, the Goniothalamus velutinus wood’s potentials were explored for the agri-food industry. The objectives of this study are to determine chemical composition of Goniothalamus velutinus and the functional group of two samples which are male tas (MT) and female tas (FT). The chemical compositions were determined by the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) method, and the functional group analysis were determined by Fourier Transform Infra-red Spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results shows that male tas (MT) showed a higher chemical composition compared to the female tas (FT) such as for extractive; 4.73% and 2.21%, Holocellulose; 92.19% and 88.96%, Cellulose; 57.02% and 55.88%, Hemicellulose; 35.16% and 33.08%, Lignin; 27.48% and 34.46%, respectively. These chemical compositions have good potential for the food sector. For FT-IR analysis, the results revealed five different functional groups related to which chemical composition in the sample, especially cellulose.