Case study: Preliminary assessment of integrated palm biomass biorefinery for bioethanol production utilizing non-food sugars from oil palm frond petiole

•Fermentable sugars production from oil palm frond by integrated technology concept.•Bioethanol production from oil palm frond sugars in a biorefinery.•Palm oil mills have sufficient excess energy and steam to support biorefinery.•The net energy ratio of bioethanol from oil palm frond petiole is 7.48. In this case study, a preliminary assessment on the bioethanol production from oil palm frond (OPF) petiole sugars within an integrated palm biomass biorefinery was carried out. Based on the case study of 4 neighbouring palm oil mills, approximately 55,600t/y of fermentable sugars could be obtained from OPF petiole. The integrated biorefinery will be located at one of the 4 mills. The mill has potential excess energy comprising 3.64GWh/y of electricity and 177,000t/y of steam which are sufficient to run the biorefinery. With 33.9millionlitres/y of bioethanol production, the specific production cost of bioethanol is estimated at $ 0.52/l bioethanol, compared to $ 0.31–0.34/l bioethanol produced from sugarcane and $ 0.49–0.60/l bioethanol from other lignocellulosics. The net energy ratio of 7.48 for bioethanol production from OPF provides a promising alternative for OPF utilization as a non-food sugar feedstock.