Astimar Abdul Aziz

Electrical Conductivity of Carbon Pellets from Mixtures of Pyropolymer from Oil Palm Bunch and Cotton Cellulose

Self-adhesive carbon grains (sacg1) and heat-treated kraft lignin (htkl) were prepared from the oil palm empty fruit bunch, a potential precursor for carbon products due to its large availability from palm oil mills, and sacg was prepared from cellulose (sacg2). Pellets were prepared from mixtures of sacg1 and htkl, as well as sacg1 and sacg2, with varying percentages of htkl (Phtkl%) and sacg2 (Psacg2%). After carbonization up to 1000°C, the measured electrical conductivities, σ (Ωcm)-1, of the respective pellets follow the equations σ=4.13Phtkl+2.43 and σ=0.53Psacg2+2.55, respectively, indicating that htkl has improved in its conducting phase compared to sacg2.

Application of Palm Kernel Shell Activated Carbon for the Removal of Pollutant and Color in Palm Oil Mill Effluent Treatment

Introduction: Application of palm kernel shell activated carbon (PKSAC) in reducing the pollutant in palm oil mill effluent (POME) was studied as the alternative treatment system. Aim: The objective of this study was to determine the optimum PKSAC dosage and treatment time for its capability to treat the effluent. Methods: The study was carried out in batch and continuous systems. For batch system, activated carbon dosage ranging from 1% to 15% (w/v) was added into 200 mL of POME and agitated at 160 rpm for 24-120 h treatment time. As for continuous system, POME samples were fed into 2000 mL fixed-bed glass column and run continuously for 8 h/cycle. Results: For the batch study, results showed that the PKSAC works with maximum removal of pollutant at very high dosage up to 15% (w/v) in 72 h treatment time. Meanwhile, for fixed-bed treatment, POME was fed to the column with flow rate of 15 mL/min. The initial chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color of samples were in the range of 450-910 mg/L and 3500-6500 Pt/Co, respectively, and after the treatment, the maximum COD and color removal were 75% and 76%, respectively. The PKSAC became saturated after 8 treatment cycle. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the palm-based activated carbon was able to remove the organic pollutant and color of POME in both batch and continuous adsorption treatments. Being the raw material available in the palm oil mill, the PKS can be converted into activated carbon and used as sustainable practice to treat POME.

Oil Palm Biomass for Various Wood-based Products

Publisher Summary Based on the research and development findings by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and various agencies, oil palm biomass has a great potential as a raw material for producing products for the wood-based industry. The product quality showed that it is comparable with the products made from tropical wood. However, in the process line and parameters, it needs to be adjusted accordingly based on the oil palm biomass characteristic as compared with normal wood. One of the alternative raw materials for some of the products that have traditionally been made from wood is felled Oil Palm Stems (OPT), a sustainable non-wood source that is available in abundance at replanting operations. In spite of their availability, the commercial use of OPT to act as raw materials for the manufacture of plywood, sawn lumber, and fiber-based biocomposites has yet to reach the desired level. The commercial exploitation of oil palm trunks for a variety of products depends on a number of factors. These include a long security of sustainable supply, the economic system for handling them, and a reliable design of processing and manufacturing equipment to cater for their physical forms and sizes.