In polymer chemistry, polyol usually used as starting materials for polyurethane (PU) production in which upon reacted with isocyanate will affect the physical and chemical properties of the obtained PU. Polyols that are mostly derived from petrochemical resources are facing issues such as depletion of petroleum sources as well as the increasing in market price. Ring opening reaction (ROR) of epoxidized palm oil (EPO) had been carried out using isopropanolamine (IPA) to impart polyol with amine functionality. The effect of reaction time on the opening of oxirane ring was investigated. FTIR spectra showed that the oxirane ring opening of EPO can occur at 6 hours reaction time, corresponding to the deacreasing intensity of  oxirane COO twin band at 824-830 cm-1. The OH value of the amine- functionalized-polyol was calculated at around 240-253 mg KOH/g. By prolonging the reaction time the OH value has slightly reduced. Mass spectroscopy analysis revealed that the polyol has a molecular weight in the range of oligo-polyols (400 – 500 Da).

An efficient and economical treatment technology for heavy metal removal from the electroplating wastewaters is needed for the water purification. Therefore, pure cellulosic materials were derived from two waste fiber (pandanus fruit and durian rind) and conversion of the cellulose into the poly(acrylonitrile)-grafted material was accomplished by free radical grafting system. Thereafter, poly(amidoxime) ligand was produced from the grafted materials. Sorption capacity (qe) of several toxic metals ions was found to be high, e.g., copper capacity (qe) was 298.4 mg g−1 at pH 6. In fact, other metal ions, such as cobalt chromium and nickel also demonstrated significant sorption capacity at pH 6. Sorption mechanism played acceptable meet with pseudo second-order rate of kinetic pattern due to the satisfactory correlation with the experimental sorption values. A significant correlation coefficient (R2 > 0.99) with Langmuir model isotherm showed the single or monolayer sorption occurred on the surfaces. The reusability study showed that the polymer ligand can be useful up to six cycles with minimum loss (7%) of efficiency and can be used in the extraction of toxic metal ions present in the wastewaters. Therefore, two types of electroplating wastewater were used in this study, one containing high concentration of copper (23 ppm) and iron (32 ppm) with trace level of others heavy metals (IWS 1) and another containing high concentration of copper (85.7 ppm) only with trace level of others heavy metals (IWS 2). This polymeric ligand showed acceptable removal magnitude, up to 98% of toxic metal ions can be removed from electroplating wastewater.

Utilization of agro-based fibre for paper making has been the subject of interest in order to expand the usage of renewable resources as well as reduced the dependence on wood pulp. As one of the major countries in palm oil production, some of the waste from the oil palm plantation like the oil palm fronds, empty fruit bunches, and its leaf is a potential source of non-wood industry which can be used as raw material in the paper industry manufacture. This study was done to examine the potential of palm leaves to be used as a raw material of non-wood resources in the papermaking industry. In this study, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) pulping and process was employed to investigate the effectiveness of lignin removal for good fibre production. The concentration of the pulping agent was fixed at 7% at treatment of 1-7 hours to investigate the best condition for defibrillation of the cellulose fibre. Based on this study, it was found that the soda pulping produces fibre that can be molded into paper sheet without any binding agent. The morphology of the fibre observed under Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) shows that, soda pulping fiber consist of individual micro fibrils that are well separated. Both tensile strength and tear index gives highest value at 1.93 kg/cm2 and 37 Nm2/kg respectively at 7 hours treatment time. his reflects that lignin removal effectively occurred in soda pulping. Tensile strength found to increases with treatment time and both tensile strength and tear index of the paper falls within the value comparable to commerical non-wood paper. The paper produced has rough surface and has the potential to be develop for craft paper.

Abstract. Madung Z, Soloi S, Majid MHA, Sarjadi MS. 2022. Production and characterization of Imperata cylindrica paper using potassium hydroxide as pulping agent. Biodiversitas 23: 1490-1494. Non-woody plants have become an alternative fiber in paper production as woods, the primary sources of papers have become limited due to increasing demand of paper year by year. Imperata cylindrica or cogon grass as the source of fiber for the pulp and paper industry in replacing the wood fiber because it has high cellulose and low lignin content.  In this study, cogon grasses were treated with various concentrations of potassium hydroxide, KOH (5%, 8%, 10% and 12%). The effects of alkali treatment on the properties of the papers were investigated in the present study. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image of the paper sheet indicates that the amount of cellulose fiber and other materials were lessening toward a higher concentration of KOH treatment. This explained that most of the lignin was entirely removed and some cellulose probably degraded at higher KOH concentrations. Fourier Transform Infa-Red (FTIR) analysis showed that the peaks at range 1650 cm-1-1630 cm-1 attributed to the presence of v(C=C) aromatic ring of lignin disappeared at 10% and 12% of KOH. The mechanical strength of the papers decreased with an increasing concentration of KOH, while 5% of KOH produced the highest value of tensile strength.

s. Renewable sources like vegetable oil have been used to prepare many polymeric resins due to the awareness on environmental issue and depletion on petrochemical sources. In polyurethane (PU) production, petroleum based polyol such as polypropylene glycol (PPG) has been replaced with plant based polyol from canola oil, soybean oil and palm oil. However, prior to be used, these vegetable oil needs to be modify chemically or physically in order to increase their functionality. In this study, palm oil (PO) has been modify via glyceroylsis and transamidation before reacted with diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) at 1:1 NCO:OH ratio in the presence of distilled water as blowing agent and silicone surfactant as foam stabilizer to produce palm oil based PU foam. FTIR study of polyol from both routes shows that main hydroxyl group (-OH) have been successfully introduced into palm oil molecular structure. It was also found that the hardness of two routes have nearly similar values which were shore D 33.6 and 35.4 respectively. Both foams have potential to be used in many non-load bearing applications such as insulator in building or electrical appliances.