# Proposal for a new method for sustainable and advanced utilization of oil palm trunk waste

## TL;DR

This paper proposes a new method to separate and use oil palm trunk waste for making stronger particleboard materials.

## Contribution

A new method using Zephyr equipment to separate vascular bundles and create high-strength particleboard from oil palm trunk waste.

## Key findings

- Vascular bundles can be separated from oil palm trunks using Zephyr equipment while maintaining tissue structure.
- Particleboard made from separated vascular bundles showed higher MOR and MOE than previous materials from oil palm trunks.
- Starch was confirmed in the parenchyma, and some remained on the vascular bundle surface after separation.

## Abstract

A method to more easily separate vascular bundles and parenchyma was investigated for the purpose of proposing a sustainable and advanced utilization of oil palm trunk (OPT). In addition, particleboard made from vascular bundles was produced as one of the effective ways to utilize the obtained vascular bundles. The following results were obtained. A Zephyr rolling equipment was used for separation, and it was found that the vascular bundles could be easily separated with the veneer in a dry state. SEM observations showed that the vascular bundles could be separated while maintaining the tissue structure. However, some parenchyma remained on the surface of the vascular bundles. The presence of starch was also confirmed within the parenchyma. Particleboard was produced using the separated vascular bundles. The MOR and MOE of the three-layered particleboards with long vascular bundles obtained by Zephyr treatment were about 74.2 MPa and 7.3 GPa, respectively, which are much higher than those of previous wood materials made from OPTs. These results may be the result of extracting the potential of vascular bundles.