Determination of chemical components of grated coconut as potential filler in composite / Shirley Arvilla Andrew, Siti Aminah Mohammad and Farnidah Jasni

The abundance of natural fibre base agro by product such as rice husk, sugar bagasse and coconut shell will cause environment problem if efficient solid waste management are not taken. Due to environmental awareness, using natural fibre as filler becomes crucial nowadays. There are lots of special inherent in natural fibre compared to inorganic fillers such as biodegradability, minimal health hazards, an eco-friendly, availability, sustainability, carbon-neutrality, has a reductions in weight and less reliance on petrochemical sources. However, it is complicated in term of cell geometry, morphology and chemical composition. Using natural filler reinforced materials can help to reduce the dependence on non-renewable material sources, lower pollution and green house emission. Nevertheless, it has some drawbacks such as moisture uptake, quality variations and low thermal stability. Grated coconut has the potential to replace the inorganic filler in composite. Besides can be used as feedstock, it is also agro waste carbon neutrality which offer numerous benefits, such as reduced dependence on synthetic filler, low cost, easy to handle and safe. The benefits of chemical component of it such as cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin play important role in major framework components of the fibre. Lots of data regarding chemical component of natural fibre reported by researchers, but few studied about the potential of coconut as reinforced composite, hence, there was lack information of chemical component of grated coconut. Consequently, this research aim to determine the physicochemical component and the potential of grated coconut as bio-composite. In this research, moisture content and chemical analysis in accordance to official method of analysis of AOAC international were used as a guideline. The result shows that, moisture content and transmittance in the grated coconut had achieved the percentage standard to become a biocomposite product. However, the chemical composition analysis shows that only lignin shows the potential of grated coconut to be a good product based on its content. The other chemical analysis that were alpha-cellulose, holo-cellulose and hemicellulose shows that grated coconut has less potential to become bio-composite. Nevertheless, it is recommended to reinforce the grated coconut with other chemical or natural fiber in order to shows its potential to become composite material that contributes the strength enhancement of the matrix or fiber.