• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.56-64
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• 2014

The applicability of oil palm EFB(Empty Fiber Bunch) to the papermaking process as a functional organic filler was investigated in this study. Since the EFB has similar chemical composition to the lignocellulose materials such as wood fiber, the fines of EFB was applied to the handsheet paper as an alternative to wood powder which were used as an organic filler to improve water removal efficiency and bulk. The experiments showed that the EFB fines resulted in the higher water removal efficiency at the wet pressing process and leaded to the higher bulk than those of wood powder. In case of 10 % addition of organic filler, the strength properties were not significantly changed. Those results suggested that the EFB could be used as a new organic filler for improving water removal efficiency and bulk property.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.671-681
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• 2017

Oil palm trunk (OPT) is a potential source of biomass for the production of biopellet. In the present research, biopellet were prepared from the meristem part of 25 years old OPT with various percentages of its bark (0, 10, and 30%). The highest biopellet durability was found for biopellet produced at $130^{\circ}C$ of pelletizing temperature with 30% bark content. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of biopellet showed the weak of particle bonding due to the low pelletizing pressure. The moisture content, unit density, ash content, and caloric value of OPT-based pellets were 3.55-5.35%, $525.56-855.23kg/m^3$, 2.76-3.44%, and 17.89-19.14 MJ/kg, respectively. The combustion profiles obtained by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) seemed to be unaffected by the bark content on. Differential thermal analysis of TGA curve indicated different pyrolysis characteristic of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.67-74
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• 2016

The demand of environmental friendly packaging materials such as pulp mold has been increased. The application of the oil palm biomass, EFB (Empty Fruit Bunch) fiber as natural raw materials to the pulp mold could increase the usability of the pulp mold by the reduced production cost brought from the relatively low cost of EFB. The effects of the EFB(Empty Fruit Bunch) fibers on the properties of pulp mold and on the process efficiency were evaluated in this study. The pulp mold samples were prepared with mixture ONP (Old news paper) and EFB by using laboratory wet pulp molder. The changes in the drying efficiency were measured with the changes in the solid contents of pulp mold samples during drying process. The efficiency of the surface coating treatment on the pulp mold depending on the condition of the pulp mold samples were also evaluated in order to improve the water resistance properties of pulp mold. The addition of EFB increased the drying efficiency by providing the bulkier structure and the higher water contact angle, which indicated the better water resistance properties. The water resistance were improved by the surface coating treatments and the application of surface coating on the pulp mold at the higher moisture contents resulted in the higher improvement in the water resistance. The bulkier structure originated from the application of EFB fiber reduced the effects of the surface coating, which could be overcome by the control of surface coating process.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.75-83
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• 2015

The applicability of oil palm biomass, EFB(Empty Fruit Bunch) as raw materials for environmental friendly packaging material, pulp mold, was evaluated in this study. The changes in the water absorption properties of pulp mold by the addition of EFB and the surface treatments with PVA and AKD were analyzed by measuring the changes in the water absorption rate and the water contact angle. The each pulp mold sample was prepared by using laboratory wet pulp molder. And the water absorption rate of each samples were evaluated by measuring times for the absorption of a 0.1 ml water drop on the pulp mold sample surface. The addition of EFB to the pulp mold made of OCC resulted in the decrease of water absorption rate and the increase in the water contact angle. The surface treatments with PVA and AKD on the OCC pulp mold showed the significant reduction in the water absorption rate. However, in case of ONP pulp mold, the addition of EFB and the surface treatments with PVA and AKD showed no big changes in water absorption times. Those might be come from the finer surface structure of ONP pulp mold which were made of more finer and flexible fibers and more hydrophilic fibers. The results of this study showed the functional properties such as water absorption rate, could be controlled by the application of EFB and the treatments with AKD or PVA, especially in case of the OCC pulp mold.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.127-136
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• 2019

Land application of treated palm oil mill effluent (TPOME) could be used as an alternative tertiary wastewater treatment process. However, phenolic compounds in TPOME might be leached to the environment. This study investigated the ability of grasses on reducing phenolic compounds in the leachate after TPOME application. Several pasture grasses in soil pots were compared after irrigating with TPOME from stabilization ponds, which contained 360-630 mg/L phenolic compounds. The number of soil bacteria in planted pots increased over time with the average of $10^8CFU/g$ for mature grasses, while only $10^4-10^6CFU/g$ were found in the unplanted control pots. The leachates from TPOME irrigated grass pots contained lower amounts of phenolic compounds and had lower phytotoxicity than that of control pots. The phenol removal efficiency of grass pots was ranged 67-93% and depended on grass cultivars, initial concentration of phenolic compounds and frequency of irrigations. When compared to water irrigation, TPOME led to an increased phenolic compounds accumulation in grass tissues and decreased biomass of Brachiaria hybrid and Brachiaria humidicola but not Panicum maximum. Consequently, the application of TPOME could be conducted on grassland and the grass species should be selected based on the utilization of grass biomass afterward.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.34-45
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• 2016

Global warming and climate change have been caused by combustion of fossil fuels. The greenhouse gases contributed to the rise of temperature between $0.6^{\circ}C$ and $0.9^{\circ}C$ over the past century. Presently, fossil fuels account for about 88% of the commercial energy sources used. In developing countries, fossil fuels are a very attractive energy source because they are available and relatively inexpensive. The environmental problems with fossil fuels have been aggravating stress from already existing factors including acid deposition, urban air pollution, and climate change. In order to control greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2, fossil fuels must be replaced by eco-friendly fuels such as biomass. The use of renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly necessary. The biomass resources are the most common form of renewable energy. The conversion of biomass into energy can be achieved in a number of ways. The most common form of converted biomass is pellet fuels as biofuels made from compressed organic matter or biomass. Pellets from lignocellulosic biomass has compared to conventional fuels with a relatively low bulk and energy density and a low degree of homogeneity. Thermal pretreatment technology like torrefaction is applied to improve fuel efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass, i.e., less moisture and oxygen in the product, preferrable grinding properties, storage properties, etc.. During torrefacton, lignocelluosic biomass such as palm kernell shell (PKS) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) was roasted under an oxygen-depleted enviroment at temperature between 200 and $300^{\circ}C$. Low degree of thermal treatment led to the removal of moisture and low molecular volatile matters with low O/C and H/C elemental ratios. The mechanical characteristics of torrefied biomass have also been altered to a brittle and partly hydrophobic materials. Unfortunately, it was much harder to form pellets from torrefied PKS and EFB due to thermal degradation of lignin as a natural binder during torrefaction compared to non-torrefied ones. For easy pelletization of biomass with torrefaction, pellets from PKS and EFB were manufactured before torrefaction, and thereafter they were torrefied at different temperature. Even after torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, their appearance was well preserved with better fuel efficiency than non-torrefied ones. The physical properties of the torrefied pellets largely depended on the torrefaction condition such as reaction time and reaction temperature. Temperature over $250^{\circ}C$ during torrefaction gave a significant impact on the fuel properties of the pellets. In particular, torrefied EFB pellets displayed much faster development of the fuel properties than did torrefied PKS pellets. During torrefaction, extensive carbonization with the increase of fixed carbons, the behavior of thermal degradation of torrefied biomass became significantly different according to the increase of torrefaction temperature. In conclusion, pelletization of PKS and EFB before torrefaction made it much easier to proceed with torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, leading to excellent eco-friendly fuels.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.15-22
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• 2015

The crop production technologies keep in improving and the cultivation becomes more standardization owing to the significant developments of various agricultural materials. The artificial soil and base system for root could be one of the major technologies for the modern cultivation especially for controlled horticulture. Although the perlite, cocopeat, and peat moss are the major components of the artificial soil and are broadly used for various application, there is a great need for the new alternative materials for overcoming the low nutrition and the possible shortage of raw materials. In this study, the application of oil palm EFB fiber as an alternative materials for artificial soil especially for the seeding pad components was evaluated. The changes in the structural properties and the functional properties such as moisture holding properties were compared by laboratory produced seeding pads with different mixture of oil palm EFB fiber. The addition of fibrillated EFB fiber resulted in the significant increase in durability of the seeding pad, which showed the possible application of EFB fiber to the seeding pad instead of the wood fiber (UBKP). The moisture holding properties and the germination condition characteristics of the EFB fiber showed the slight less than those of the cocopeat, which require more sophisticated study for improving the functional properties of seeding pad made of the EFB fiber.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.547-554
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• 2018

Torrefaction is the promising process of pretreating biomass materials to increase the quality of their energy, especially to upgrade the materials' grindability so that it is suitable for a commercial pulverizer machine. In this study, torrefaction of oak, bamboo, oil palm trunk, and rice husk was carried out under different torrefaction temperatures ($300^{\circ}C$, $330^{\circ}C$, and $350^{\circ}C$) and different torrefaction residence times (30, 45, and 60 minutes). Complete characterization of the torrefied biomass, including proximate analysis, calorific value, thermogravimetric analysis, mass yield, energy yield, and grindability properties (Hardgrove Grindability Index) was carried out. Increasing the torrefaction temperature and residence time significantly improved the calorific value, energy density (by reducing the product mass), and grindability of the product. Furthermore, for commercial purposes, the torrefaction conditions that produced the desired grindability properties of the torrefied product were $330^{\circ}C-30minutes$ and $300^{\circ}-45minutes$, and the latter condition produced a higher energy yield for bamboo, oil palm trunk, and rice husk; however, torrefaction of oak did not achieve the targeted grindability property values.

• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.233-238
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• 2018

Bio-oil is produced by the fast quenching of hot vapor produced by fast pyrolysis of biomass in an inert atmosphere. Nitrogen is used as carrier gas to control the concentration of oxygen less than 3%. The consumption of nitrogen should be increased with increasing process size, and leading to increasing of facility and operating costs due to nitrogen charge. The effects of the recycling of non-condensable gases on the fast pyrolysis, bio-oil yield and quality, and nitrogen consumption have systematically investigated to see the possibility of these results in fast pyrolysis process of palm residue.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.96-104
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• 2023

The successful restoration program requires a comprehensive understanding of variables influencing seedling efficiency. Below-ground is hypothesized to have a major impact on seedling performance of species when planted in agriculture, and degraded areas with different types of mulching. This study investigated on Sg. Terla Forest Reserve in Cameron Highlands Pahang, Malaysia. In this study randomized complete block design (RCBD) was used. The excavation method was applied to study the root system development, above, and below ground biomass distributions under different types of mulching: coconut mulching (CM), oil palm mulching (OM), plastic mulching (PM) and control (CK). The root diameter, main root length, lateral root length, root coiling, and root direction toward to sun were recorded. The results in this study indicate that mulching had significant effect on root diameter, main root length, and root distributions among treatments while for lateral root length, root: shoot ratio, dry biomass distributions, and above and below ground biomass did not showed significant effect among treatments. The highest values for root diameter, lateral root length, main root length, root distributions, dry biomass distributions and above and below ground biomass were showed in CM treatments. However 75% of root coiling was observed in seedlings between treatments.