The problem of massive emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the burning of fossil fuels and their climatic impact has become major scientific and political issues. Electricity generation, transportation, industrial and residential are the main sectors identified to contribute to the emission of CO 2 in Malaysia. In this study, a comprehensive modeling tool, longrange energy alternatives planning system (LEAP) was utilized to project CO 2 emissions from year 2000 to year 2020 for each sector. It was projected that without any mitigation measures being taken up by the country, 285.73 million tonnes of CO 2 will be released in 2020, which is a 68.86% increase compared to the amount of CO 2 emitted in year 2000. Electricity generation, which gives 43.40% out of total of emissions, was discovered to be the largest emitting sector among all sectors. In addition, this study also reviews recommended mitigation analysis proposed by other researches as well as implementation of energy efficiency program in Malaysia. This projection and mitigation is a hope to provide an important basis to reduce future CO 2 emissions and their associated impact in Malaysia.

Lignocellulosic biomass (LB) sources which are readily available in abundance are widely considered as a potential future sustainable raw materials for biofuel production. Typically, biofuel production involved several chemical and mechanical steps consisting of pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation and separation. The pretreatment step is considered as one of the most vital part of the whole processing scheme due to the impact it had on the efficiency of the subsequent processing steps. In this study we reviewed the mechanical pretreatment of LB focusing mainly on the size reduction technique by grinding process. Grinding is one of the proven preliminary pretreatment techniques employed in biomass conversion to liquid biofuel. However, this technique is known to be costly due to high energy consumption. In view of this, an efficient and cost effective pretreatment technology is required in order for the biofuel to be produced at a competitive level. At the same time, the impact on environment caused by the conventional pretreatment processes can be minimized. Thus, a new combined chemical-mechanical pretreatment is considered whereby a green ionic liquid (IL) solvent is introduced.

Ionic liquid (IL) has been shown to affect cellulose crystalline structure in lignocellulosic biomass (LB) during pretreatment. This research was carried out with two different experimental design involving IL to observe the effect of dissolution in IL on: (A) the crystallinity of cellulose and (B) the dissolution efficiency of LB. For experiment A, the types of IL used in this research were 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Acetate [EMI[A, 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride [AMI[C, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride [BMI[C and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride [EMI[C. The crystallinity degree of LB was investigated before and after pretreatment with IL. The microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was used as the simulated LB (cellulose content) was dissolved in IL and the crystallinity after the dissolution was analyzed. The temperature (70°C, 80°C, 90°C, 99°C) and concentration ratio of IL with volume/volume (v/v: 10%, 25%, 50%) were varied while the dissolution time remained constant. The crystallinity was analyzed by using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that the dissolution temperature and IL concentration ratio affects the intensity of the FTIR peaks. In experiment B, the dissolution of LB with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride [BMI[C and 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride [EMI[C as ILs were investigated. Four types of LB involved were Elaeis guineensis species of Oil Palm Trunk (OPT) and Oil Palm Frond (OPF) and Pennisetum purpureum species (elephant grass) originated from Taiwan and India. From the results obtained, the [BMI[C gave better dissolution to biomass.

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Lignocellulosic biomass containing cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin is significantly analyzed via methods from infrared to microscopy. These methods help researchers to explore the organic or inorganic functional groups and physical surface impacts microscopically on the particles of the pretreated biomass. Some concerns arise in understanding the data results. An investigation with the presence of ionic liquids on Leucaena Leucocephala (Petai Belalang), Acacia Auriculiformis and Melastoma Malabathricum (Senduduk) are reported via the results of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrum (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The model ionic liquids as green solvents used are 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Acetate (EMIMAc) and 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Chloride (EMIMCl). This work is very essential to sustain preliminary reliable understanding on the chemical and physical effects on lignocellulosic biomass during pretreatment with solvents.