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In this study, two conditions of empty and partially filled paddy grain (EPFG) (unground and ground) are pre‐treated using a mild hydrothermal process at 120 °C at 30–120 min. The pre‐treatment condition which shows potential structural changes for sugar conversion (gelatinization of starch, reduction of hemicellulose to 11.8%, and increased in cellulose to 43.3%) involves combination of dry grinding and hydrothermal pre‐treatment at 60 min. In this condition, the starch and sugars released in the liquid fraction is high at 127 and 37.1 mg g−1, respectively, which can easily be converted into glucose without the need of enzyme usage. The effectiveness of the pre‐treatment on EPFG structural changes is further confirmed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD), showing disruption of structures leading to amorphous biomass. Glucose production of pre‐treated ground EPFG (G‐EPFG) shows higher value at 30.13 g L−1 for 10% solid loading than the untreated samples. Overall, the results suggest that EPFG produced as waste in paddy milling factories can be a potential feedstock for a biorefinery based on the findings and processes derived from this study.

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The most common method of treating palm oil mill effluent (POME) is by using various types of bacteria communities. However, the utilization of microalgae in consuming the high nutrient content in wastewater offer additional benefit, particularly for CO2 sequestration. In this study, we proposed to evaluate the performance of multicultural bacteria obtained from municipal wastewater and Chlorella sp. for batch treatment of POME at different COD concentrations (ranges between 600 to 1,300 mg/L), microalgae species (C. vulgaris and C. pyrenoidosa) and speed of agitation (0 and 150 rpm). The results showed that between the bacteria and microalgae that are involved in POME treatment, microalgae give high removal of colour (93%) and ammoniacal nitrogen (95%). As for the COD and phosphate removal, both microorganisms show comparable performances. It was observed that C. pyrenoidosa was able to remove more colour compared to C. vulgaris where higher lipid yield production was obtained (47.6%). However, there is no significant impact of agitation on pollutant removal. This study also reveals that co-cultivation of different microalgae species does not affect the efficiency of the system. This study provides an important insight into developing an efficient and environmentally friendly method to treat wastewater by incorporating green technology in the treatment system