The oil content of the flesh of mesocarp has direct relationship with color bands red, green and blue. By running intensive experiments, it was found that oil content correlated with the red color band, with a regression value of 0.86. The finding of this study may be useful for determining the ripeness of oil palm for harvesting and for the use in the operation and control of continuous steriliser in palm oil mill.
Copper nanoparticles were impregnated onto oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) powders via in-situ sol-gel method. The impregnation and interfacial interaction of copper nanoparticles with EFB were analysed by fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The interaction of copper nanoparticles with the surface functional groups of EFB powders was identified by FTIR analysis. The peak shift of O-H and CO functional groups indicated the interaction between EFB and copper nanoparticles. Besides that, XRD and EDX analysis confirmed the formation of copper nanoparticles on EFB powder. Due to the copper impregnation, the crystallinity of the EFB was increased as shown by XRD. The particles size of nanoparticles was analysed via TEM and AFM where the sizes were in the range of 60-100 nm. These findings strongly suggest that, copper nanoparticles impregnated EFB powders can be synthesized via insitu sol gel method.
Abstract:The conventional separation system for the recovery of palm kernel from its palm shell-kernel mixture using water as process media generates a considerable amount of waste effluent that harms the environment. The aim of this study is to develop a dry separation process for the recovery of palm kernel by using winnowing columns. A commercial system consisting of a series of five winnowing columns was developed and installed at a local palm oil mill. The system parameters, including column height, blower capacity, airflow rate and mesh screen size for shell removal, were studied and optimized to ensure good separation of kernel and shell in the column to enable collection of different sizes of kernel and shell at each column outlet. The performance of the separation process was evaluated in terms of its kernel losses, dirt content and kernel recovery rate. The average kernel losses based on oil palm fresh fruit bunches processed were found to vary from 0.11 to 0.30 wt %, with most of the values obtained being below the targeted limit of 0.30 wt %. The dirt content was in the range 4.56-6.03 wt %, which was mostly below the targeted limit of 5.5 wt %. The kernel recovery rate was in the range 5.69-6.89 wt %, with most of the values achieving the minimum targeted limit of 6.00 wt %. The system operates under completely dry conditions and, therefore, produces zero waste effluent.
This research underlines the effect of ultrasound in NaOH surface modification of empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibre. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to characterized the fibres. It can be seen that surface morphology treated by ultrasound assisted alkali treatment shows smooth surface with minor impurities. Additionally, the elimination of hemicellulose on EFB fibre surface can be proven by the disappearance of peak between 2900-1700 cm−1 (C-H). Furthermore, Ultrasound assisted alkali method demonstrate the admirable value (300 N/mm2) in enhancing the tensile stress of EFB fibre and comparable with alkali soaking technique (292 N/mm2). The findings indicate that ultrasound-assisted alkali treatment has the potential to be used as surface modification method in the industry.
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