7. chapter 2
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The document discusses oil palm and particleboard. It describes how oil palm is native to West Africa and Central/South America and is a highly productive source of vegetable oil. Malaysia and Indonesia are the top producers. Oil palm fronds are an agricultural waste that can be used to make particleboard. Particleboard is made by compressing and bonding small wood particles with adhesive and is commonly used in construction. Phenol formaldehyde is typically used as the adhesive as it produces a thermosetting resin through chemical reactions between phenol and formaldehyde molecules.
7. chapter 2
- 1. 3 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Oil Palm The oil palm is a tropical palm tree that has two species. The African oil palm (Elaeis oleifera) is native to West Africa, occurring between Angola and Gambia, while the American Oil Palm (Elaeis oleifera) is a native to tropical Central America and South America. (Unknown, March 2012). The high productivity of the oil palm at producing oil (as high as 7,250 liters per hectare per year) has made it the prime source of vegetable oil for many tropical countries. It is also likely to be used for producing the necessary vegetable oil for biodiesel, an example being a planned refinery Darwin, Australia which will import the palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia (Kamarul Azlan Abd. Hamid, May 2008) The oil palm originated in West Africa but has since been planted successfully in the tropical regions within 20 degrees of the equator. There is evidence of palm oil use in Ancient Egypt. In the Republic of Congo, or Congo Brazzaville, precisely in the Northern part, not far from Ouesso, local people produce this oil by hand. They harvest the fruit, boil it to let the water part evaporate, then pressing what is left into collect the reddish, orange colored oil.(Unknown, March 2012) The world's largest producer and exporter of the palm oil today is Malaysia, producing about 47% of the world's supply of palm oil. Indonesia is the second largest in the world producer of palm oil producing approximately 36% of world palm oil volume. Both nations are expanding their palm oil production capacity and the market continues to grow (Kamarul Azlan Abd. Hamid, 2008).
- 2. 4 Worldwide palm oil production during the 2005-2006 growing season was 39.8 million metric tons, of which 4.3 million tons was in the form of palm kernel oil. It is thus by far the most widely-produced tropical oil, and constitutes thirty-four percent of total edible oil production worldwide. Oil palm is one of the most abundant, unutilized waste biomass from plantation in South-Asia. (Unknown, March 2012) 2.1.1 Oil Palm Frond Plate 2.1: Oil palm frond A palm branch (or palm frond or palm stem), usually refers to the leaves of the Arecaceae (sometimes known by the name Palmae). The oil palm frond (OPF) is collected during pruning and replanting activities. The availability of fronds during the pruning activity was calculated using an estimate of 10.4 tones ha-1 , which currently gives an average of 6.97 million tons per year. Meanwhile, it was estimated at an average of 54.43 million tons per year oil palm fronds will be available during the replanting process in the year of 2007- 2020 (Rafidah J, et al, 2007). The cell walls of OPF are composed mainly of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. In addition to those three main components, several percent of ash and extractives are included. Among those components, cellulose and hemicelluloses
- 3. 5 are polysaccharides, which are easily decomposed and metabolized by wood-rot fungi. In the constituent analysis of wood, when lignin is selectively removed, is obtained holocellulose. Holocellulose can be thought of as the total of cellulose and all hemicelluloses (Kamarul Azlan Abd. Hamid, 2008). 2.1.2 OPF As An Alternative Source of Particle Board Plate 2.1.2: Plots of waste of oil palm frond The rapid increase in the world’s population has caused a rise in demand for wood and wood products (Uysal, 2005). The increasing prices of timber and its shortage have affected the wood-based industries in the world. The ever-increasing manufacturing costs and uncertainty in wood supply in some regions, due to restrictions on logging and inadequate forest resources, has raised concerns over future wood supplies. The forest may no longer be able to supply the wood in a sustainable way anymore. Thus to overcome this research and development activities in many countries around the world, including Malaysia, have focused on composites, using non- wood resources from agricultural residues as the alternative source of raw material. Non-wood lignocellulosic composites are becoming attractive in commercial and non-commercial applications.(Rasat, et al, 2011)
- 4. 6 Organic natural fibers are increasingly being investigated for various usages in many structural and non-structural applications. Malaysia produces a large quantity of agricultural waste such as oil palm fiber Elaeis guineensis. It has generated about 18 million tons (dry basis) a year (calculated based on 1992) of world frond production (Office Agricultural Economics, 1994). Furthermore, the advantages of these fibers that they are renewable, non- abrasive, cheaper, and abundant. Oil palm fronds, which can be obtained all year round, can answer to overcome the problem of raw material because they appear to be the most viable alternative to be utilized as value-added products for the wood based industry. Considering the above mentioned facts, manufacture and fundamental properties of palm frond particle board were investigated and the suitability of oil palm frond as a raw material for manufacturing particle board is discussed. 2.2 Particleboard Plate 2.2: Sample of particleboard
- 5. 7 The particle board can be differed based on the size of particle. There are several types of particle such as: fiberboard, oriented strand board (OSB), medium density board (MDF) and others. Particle board is a panel product made by compressing the small portion of wood while simultaneously bonding them with adhesive (Youngquist, 1987) The wood particle board industry grew out of the need to dispose the large quantities of sawdust, planner shaving and to a lesser extend the use of residual and other relatively homogenous waste material produced by other wood industries. Particleboard is produced by mechanically reducing the material into small particles, applying the adhesive to the particle and consolidating to a loose mat of the particle with a head and pressure into a panel product. 2.2.1 History of Particleboard In 1941, a commercial plant in Germany first manufactured particle board. Particle board was sought as a replacement for expensive and scarce plywood materials. Originally, manufacturers used wood waste material for particle board. Today, manufacturers are considering the use of landfill products, such as agriculture waste for particleboard. It was found that better strength; appearance and resin economy could be achieved using more uniform, manufactured chips. Manufacturers began processing solid birch, beech, alder, pine and spruce into consistent chips and flakes. These finer layers were then placed on the outside of the board, with the central section composed of coarser, cheaper chips. This type of board is known as three-layer particleboard. More recently, graded-density particleboard has also evolved. It contains particles that gradually become smaller as they get closer to the surface (Unknown, November 2007)
- 6. 8 2.2.2 Properties of Particleboard There are various characteristic of particleboard such as cheaper, denser and more uniform that conventional wood and plywood is substituted for them when appearance and strength are less important than cost. However, the particleboard can be more attractive by painting or using of wood veneer that are glued onto the surface that is visible. The strength of the board depends on its density, thickness with layer and graded structure and adhesive. The stability of board is quite good with working properties generally good where it is easy to saw, drill and edge. A major disadvantage of particleboard is that it is very prone to expansion and discoloration due to moisture, particularly when it is not covered with paint or another sealer. Therefore, it is rarely used outdoors or places that have high level of moisture. Particleboard is commonly use in all types of building construction, wall, floor panel, door and furniture. (Unknown, November 2007) 2.3 Phenol Formaldehyde Plate 2.3: Phenol formaldehyde Phenol Formaldehyde is two component synthetic glue. Phenol (with the chemical formula C6H5OH) is reacted with formaldehyde (CH2O) under control temperature conditions to produce a thermosetting (heat hardening) resin. This resin is a new chemical entity which possesses properties that are completely
- 7. 9 distinct from those of either phenol or formaldehyde, with the formaldehyde converted to stable methylene linkages which do not break down under exterior end use conditions (CertiWood Technical Centre, 2011). Phenol formaldehyde resins as a group are formed by a step growth polymerization reaction that can be either acid or base catalyzed. Since formaldehyde exists predominantly in solution as a dynamic equilibrium of methylene glycol oligomers, the concentration of the reactive form of formaldehyde depends on temperature and pH (Anonymous, April 2012). Phenol is reactive towards formaldehyde at the ortho and para sites (sites 2, 4 and 6) allowing up to 3 units of formaldehyde to attach to the ring. The initial reaction in all cases involves the formation of a hydroxymethyl phenol. HOC6H5 + CH2O → HOC6H4CH2OH The hydroxymethyl group is capable of reacting with either another free ortho or para site, or with another hydroxymethyl group. The first reaction gives a methylene bridge, and the second forms an ether bridge: HOC6H4CH2OH + HOC6H5 → (HOC6H4)2CH2 + H2O The diphenol (HOC6H4)2CH2 (sometimes called a "dimer") is called bisphenol F, which is itself an important monomer in the production of epoxy resins. Bisphenol-F can further link generating tri- and tetra-and higher phenol oligomers. 2 HOC6H4CH2OH → (HOC6H4CH2)2O + H2O