Transmaterial

Palm Fiberboard

Malaysia supplies 50 percent of the world's palm oil, a raw material in high demand for the food processing and chemical industries. In this country, palm trees flourish on nearly eight percent of the land. Their fruit is roughly the size of a plum and grows in umbels. It is harvested every two months for the production of oil. In addition to the stripped fruit stalks, palm leaves and parts of the tree trunk make up the large quantities of waste left behind in the oil production process. Yet these materials are too valuable a resource to merely throw away or burn. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, Wilhelm Klauditz Institute, WKI, have been cooperating with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board to investigate ways of using this vast volume of fibrous waste. The conclusion: the fibers have been found to be highly suitable for the manufacture of fiberboard for the construction and furniture industries.

Fraunhofer researchers started by studying the untreated raw materials at their laboratory in Brunswick. "The first experimental investigations quickly showed that the various residual materials have the right attributes for being processed to make medium-density fiberboard - MDF," reports engineer Volker Thole of the WKI. "We optimized the various stages of the process for pulping the fibers and processing them into materials for making fiberboard. The stripped fruit stalks, palm leaves and other residual materials are crushed and then pulped into fibrous material in a thermomechanical process. Steam heats the fibers and then the soft raw material is ground in a refiner. Finally, adhesive is added and the material hot-pressed to achieve the desired density and final solid form of the fiberboard.

"Alternative raw materials such as palm tree waste offer a great opportunity for Malaysia and other countries to conserve their primary rainforests," sums up project manager Thole. After all, what was once fibrous waste from oil production can become the rear wall of storage units, closets, kitchen furniture or laminated floor coverings. [Excerpted from the Fraunhofer Institute website.]

posted by Blaine @ 10:19 AM