Benzylated fibre (BzF) was produced from fibres of oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFBs) using benzyl chloride in an etherification reaction for 2 h at two reaction temperatures, 100°C and 110°C. Estimates based on X-ray diffraction data show decreases of approximately 15 and 17%, respectively, in the crystallinity of cellulose, and 36 and 54% in the size of crystallites cellulose in the BzF(100°C) and BzF(110°C) samples. This indicates a greater effect on crystallite size than on crystallinity because the conversion of some crystalline cellulose in the crystallite domain into an amorphous state is accompanied by the breakage of the crystallite domain into smaller sizes. Furthermore, the results also indicate that the increase of reaction temperature from 100°C to 110°C results in a larger change in crystallite size than in crystallinity.

No abstract

Oil palm fiber empty fruit bunch (EFB) was chemically treated with benzyl chloride (bz-efb) and ethylene oxide (E-efb) at different reaction temperatures (100 and 110 • C for bz-efb; 55, 85, and 92 • C for E-efb). The SEM micrographs of bz-efb and E-efb samples showed tremendous changes in morphological structure such as plastic properties as the reaction temperature was increased. The crystallinity (by XRD) and T g of the reacted fibers were found to decrease as the reaction temperature increased. The FT-IR of the reacted samples show that the chemical reactions have taken place between cellulose hydroxyl groups and bz-efb and E-efb, respectively.

ABSTRACT:Oil palm fiber empty fruit bunch (EFB) was chemically treated with benzyl chloride (bz-efb) and ethylene oxide (E-efb) at different reaction temperatures (100 and 110• C for bz-efb; 55, 85, and 92• C for E-efb). The SEM micrographs of bz-efb and E-efb samples showed tremendous changes in morphological structure such as plastic properties as the reaction temperature was increased. The crystallinity (by XRD) and T g of the reacted fibers were found to decrease as the reaction temperature increased. The FT-IR of the reacted samples show that the chemical reactions have taken place between cellulose hydroxyl groups and bz-efb and E-efb, respectively.

Small pellets with differing mullite contents were prepared by a conventional ball-milling and dry-powder pressing technique, followed by firing at temperature of 1300°C and 1600°C for four hours. Kaolin processing waste and high purity aluminum hydroxide were used as starting materials. The sintered samples were examined using X-ray diffraction to determine the weight percent of each identified phase. The results showed that the percentage of mullite in kaolin processing waste can be increased by introducing additional aluminum hydroxide. It was found that sintered samples yielded best results when derived from both types of kaolin processing waste with 40wt% of aluminum hydroxide and a firing temperature of 1600°C.