Agricultural residues (palm oil empty fruit bunches—EFB) were used as raw material for cellulose,
lignin and hemicelluloses obtaining following sustainable criteria. An organosolv pulping process based
on ethylene glycol–water mixtures, which allowed an easy recycling of solvents as well as the recovery
of generated by-products, was used to induce delignification. Computer simulations using commercial
software (Aspen Plus) were made on the whole process in order to design the solvents recovery stages and
optimise the operation conditions. Laboratory experiments were carried out with the aim of characterizing
raw material, black liquors and released by-products. Considerable high proportion of recycled solvents
(91 wt% ethylene glycol and 88 wt% water) was reached with the proposed scheme. This resulted in 70
and 80 wt% reduction of fresh solvent input for ethylene glycol and water respectively, thus reducing the
environmental impact of the process. EFB organosolv pulp could be considered an acceptable alternative
for producing certain paper qualities with moderate strength requirements while allowing an agricultural
residue from a major economic activity (viz. oil palm production) to be exploited.