Sustainable chemical production through biomass pyrolysis is attractive. This is necessary to suppress massive dependence on fossil resources. Nevertheless, the liquid product as raw bio-crude oil (RBCO) from biomass pyrolysis still contains high water content. In this study, batch vacuum distillation of RBCO from empty fruit bunches (EFB) pyrolysis was performed at 80 \(-\) 95 °C and 30 \(-\) 45 kPa to produce light distillate. The highest yield of light distillate is acquired at 69.73–88.27% under 95 °C and 30 kPa. The functional groups in RBCO and light distillate indicate the presence of water (O–H bond), acetic acid (C = O bond), and phenol (C = C–C aromatic ring and O–H bond). This is also proven by the results from Karl-Fischer of RBCO that water contained at 66.77% whereas GC–MS of RBCO show the concentrations of acetic acid is 16.02% and phenol is 26.53%. Physically, the light distillate had a light brown color and smoky odor, with density range of 0.96–0.99 g/ml and viscosity range of 0.60–0.93 cP. According to this study, light distillate has water content of 70.57–98.81%. During vacuum distillation, acetic acid and phenol, as the major chemicals contained in RBCO, are also dissolved in the aqueous phase with the highest concentrations of 0.28% and 0.09%, respectively. Looking at its chemical components, this light distillate has the potential for food preservatives or agricultural biopesticides.
