Palm Oil Fronds as Alternative Source of Raw Material to Produce Pulp and Paper

This project is about the study of oil palm fronds and its contents in order to
make pulp and paper and also paper testing to determine the condition of the paper.
Malaysia is the largest producer and exporter of pahn oil in the world today, producing
about 47% of the world's supply of pahn oil and nowadays they are determining to
expand the pahn oil production capacity since the market demand continues to grow.
The growth highlights the potential of using the 26.2 million tonnes of oil pahn frond
(OPF) for pulp and paper production. Fibers in the palm oil frond (waste) can be
transforming into something useful such as pulp and paper instead of burning the waste.
To enhance the use of the abundant biomass generated by the pahn oil industry in
Malaysia, a study was conducted in view of exploring the paper making potential of this
industrial by-product. The information about type of oil pahn biomass such as empty
fruit bunch, oil pahn frond and oil palm trunks and their current product was studied in
order to ensure that the pulp and paper is a new product for oil pahn biomass. The pulp
and paper background was studied to get the information about the contents of the paper
and the similarity with the oil palm frond that will be used as raw material to make
paper. The basic paper making process was studied to get the information on how the
paper was made using the current technology. Chemical and physical properties of paper
was examined to look at the paper contents and compared with the oil palm fronds to
ensure that there are similarity in contents between both components and determine
either oil pahn frond could be use as raw material in paper making production or not.
The physical properties of the paper were determined using paper testing. Due to lack of
technology in laboratory, handmade paper making was done using oil pahn fronds as
raw material. All the paper and oil pahn fronds sample was analyze by X-ray
Fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to examine the contents
and the structure. The study showed that frond pulp might be used as a raw material in
pulp and paper production.