It is estimated that about 19.03 million tonnes (wet weight) of empty fruit bunches (EFB) were generated in the year 2007 in Malaysia (Astimar et al., 2008), and efforts to convert this material into value-added products have been carried out. One of these is to extract the high value lignocellulosic materials such as hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin, contents of which are estimated at 22%-35%, 40%-43% and 19%-21% (Abdul Azis Ariffin et al., 1989; Rosnah et al., 2002), respectively, in the dry EFB. The most significant materials is cellulose, which has a variety of potential applications in the chemical, food and composite industries. Cellulose is a neutrally occurring polymer in plants and it is comprised of glucose units joined together by B-1,4-glycosidic bonds. The linear cellulose chains are bundled together as microfibrils, and these microfibrils are composed of crystalline regions that exhibit strong internal bonding and amorphous regions with weaker internal bonding.

Main Research: Rosnah Mat Soom