Synthesis of alkyd resin from oil palm trunk / Ahmad Sufian Mohd Zaki

Elaeis guineensis is a scientific name for oil palm tree. One of the major crops in
Malaysia is oil palm tree. Malaysia is the world's largest producer and exporter of
palm oil produce large amount of biomass waste. Plant waste which comes from oil
palm industries was determined as new renewable source for synthesis of polymer
such as polyol and alkyd resin. In this study, the oil palm trunk was chosen to be
investigated for synthesis of alkyd resin. Soxhlet extraction technique was used to
extract cellulose by using ethanol and toluene as solvent and then mix with sulphuric
acid. The cellulose undergoes glycolysis to obtain glycoside. Glycosides were reacted
with refined palm oil by alcoholysis reactions with lithium hydroxide as catalyst to
produced polyol. Esterification process was done to produce alkyd resin as the polyol
react with phthalic anhydride. The structural confirmation of the prepared resins was
determined by Fourier transform infrared. From the spectra, cellulose was not
obtained because of the use of concentrated solution, 72% sulphuric acid during the
extraction of oil palm trunk cellulose. As the cellulose is not obtained, all the
glycoside, polyol and alkyd resin is not obtained.