Oil palm trunk (OPT) is a naturally variable material, and thus, its physical and mechanical properties are far from homogeneous. For peeling of veneer, variations in basic properties-related parameters that include vascular bundles configuration, basic density distributions, moisture content gradients and shrinkage behaviour pose a challenge. Main Researcher: Kamarudin HassanEmail: kamardin@mpob.gov.my

The palm oil industry generates biomass in the form of oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB), oil palm trunk (OPT), oil palm frond (OPF), mesocarp fibre and palm kernel shell (PKS). It was reported that a total of 439 mills were in operation with a total of 95.38 million tonnes of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) […]

The production of charcoal normally involves the heating of the biomass raw material at temperatures between 300°C-500°C, in which volatiles are emitted and removed during the process (Payakkawan et al., 2014). The carbon content is thus enriched, and an initial porosity and some ordering in the carbon structure is formed. Main Researcher: Dr Astimar Abd […]

Crude palm oil (CPO) is produced in palm oil mills by mechanically extracting it from the sterilised and digested fruitlets. However, mechanical methods have their limitations as to how efficient they can extract the oil from the fruitlets. Thus, some oil is lost in the residues such as the empty fruit bunches (EFB), mesocarp fibres, […]

The lack of information on the roles of metabolites secreted by oil palm roots hindered the understanding on mechanism underlying plant’s response to fluctuations in the abiotic and biotic environments. Investigation of root metabolites may provide information on the concentration levels of hundreds of known and not yet identified metabolites (Dubey et al., 2010; Schmidt […]