Cellulose from the palm oil solid waste (oil palm shells and stems) be isolated and used as a filler material in a biodegradable plastic, in order to improve its mechanical properties. Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) is a biodegradable polymer and compatible for nanocellulose fillers, where its mechanical properties can reach the same level as the conventional plastic. In this study, nanocellulose has been successfully prepared from the oil palm shells and stems with acid hydrolysis method and applied as a filler for PVA/nanocellulose film composite. The characterizations include Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and mechanical properties (tensile and elongation). The FTIR and DSC analysis confirm the improvement of the mechanical properties after the addition of nanocellulose, where the tensile strength reaches 14.64 kgf/mm2 with the optimal thermal ratio at 203.5°C. Nevertheless, the addition of 20% nanocellulose reduces the value of tensile strength and elongation.

Cellulose nanowhiskers (CNW) were successfully isolated from oil palm empty fruit bunch microcrystalline cellulose (OPEFB-MCC) through sulfuric acid (H2SO4) hydrolysis with different reaction times. OPEFB-MCC was hydrolyzed with 64 wt.% H2SO4 at 40 °C and various reaction times (30, 60, and 90 min). Effects of the hydrolysis time on the morphologies and properties of the cellulose were evaluated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The FTIR analysis showed that the chemical compositions of all of the samples were the same and represented the cellulose I structure. Hydrolysis time had little effect on the crystallinity index of the CNW, as was revealed by the XRD. The TEM images showed that the CNW produced with different reaction times had a rod-like shape and similar diameters and lengths. The produced CNW had better thermal stabilities than the OPEFB-MCC.

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Since its discovery, plastic has been a part of human life and is widely employed in our daily lives. Excessive use of plastic has raised pollution rates around the world, with plastic ending up in landfills or the sea, posing a threat to both terrestrial and aquatic life. Considering this problem, the widespread use of polyurethanes (PUs) in many industries has resulted in unavoidable PUs pollution in everyday life. A reaction involving prepolymer, isocyanate, and polyol can be used to make PUs. Petroleum-based polyol and vegetable oil-based polyol are the two types of polyols available. Isocyanate will become the hard domain of the polymer in the PUs polymer chain, while polyol will become the soft domain. Polylactic acid-diol is the prepolymer used to make PU (PLA-diol). PLA-diol was previously made using a traditional heating approach, which takes a long time. To overcome this traditional method, microwave-assisted synthesis is proposed to synthesize the PLA-diol. The synthesis process involved synthesizing PLA-diol at different microwave power (450W – 900W) and at different reaction time (1 hour – 2 hours). The peak of hydroxyl group in synthesized PLA-diol was characterized via the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) characterization to determine the functional groups of PLA-diol and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) characterization was done to determine the molecular weight of PLA-diol. The resulting PLA-diol will then be used to synthesis biodegradable PUs in the subsequence study.

Composites polyvinyl alcohol filled with nanocellulose from oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) and oil palm fronds (OPF) have investigated. Nanocellulose prepared by formic acid 50 wt%. Functional groups and degree of crystalline of nanocellulose were analyzed by FTIR and XRD. The degree of crystalline nanocellulose presented at 2θ at intensity of 22.26 and 21.86 for OPEFB and OPF. Amorphous part of nanocellulose at intensity of 14.68 and 15.86 for OPEFB and OPF. Functional group of nanocellulose give the same pattern for OPEFB and OPF. Nanocellulose reinforce in polyvinyl alcohol as many as 1, 5, 10 and 20% and as a comparison with polyvinyl alcohol without filler. Eight of composite films and one of vinyl alcohol film have studied mechanical properties such as tensile strength and elongation at break, and also functional groups. The tensile strength of OPF 5% and 10% increased than polyvinyl alcohol matrix. Tensile strength OPEFB 10% slightly increase from polyvinyl alcohol. The elongation of composites both OPEFB and OPF decreased with increased of nanocellulose loading.