Effect of chemical composition in oil palm trunk towards to furniture manufacturing process/ Asyraf Aminuddin Bani Amin

An explosive development in oil palm plantation in the country has produced a consequence in the generation of plantation waste. The disposal of these wastes has created an enormous environmental problem that some practical solution to their economic utilization has not been sought. An experiment has been accomplished to observe the possibility of converting the oil palm trunk into a valuable woodworking product. The effort of the research was determining the basic properties that are covered on the effect of chemical composition in oil palm trunk in the furniture manufacturing process. The determination of chemical composition in oil palm trunk includes moisture content determination, ash content percentages, hot water solubility and 1% NaOH solubility. The research is followed according to the TAPPI T212 os - 75 standards. A result in general showed that the oil palm trunk has great characteristic variation across and the along the stem, which may develop problem during utilization especially machining and drying. Oil palm wood is a unique material with great characteristic variation across and along the trunk, which may develop problem in its utilization. Such utilization was not commonly encountered in conventional wood material.