**2. Oil palm fronds**

Oil palm fronds are considered to be one of the most abundant agricultural byproducts in Malaysia. Oil palm fronds are currently considered waste from oil palm plantations, and their biomass is not used entirely. In Malaysia, the total production of these felled and pruned oil palm fronds is estimated at 24.4 million mt dry matter per year [13], and this was almost doubled within a decade to about 40 million mt in 2004. Recycling is needed to produce something that can be used and avoid the pollution of the environment. Pruning activities of these oil palm fronds will be made from time to time depending on the individuals who manage them and the available quantity of oil palm fronds. The available amount is depending on the age of the oil palm tree. It is estimated that about 10,400 kg/ha of oil palm fronds can be produced yearly [14]. Meanwhile, about 14,500 kg/ha of oil palm fronds are produced by replanting activity annually [15].

The average economic life span of the oil palm is 25 years [16] and generally was replaced after 25 to 30 years [6, 17]. Oil palm mass cultivation began in 1960 [18]. The years 1990 and beyond marked a peak in the replanting of the oil palm trees. This information presents an excellent opportunity to harness the lignocellulosic biomass or by-products of the oil palm, including the fronds. Oil palm fronds are available throughout the year when the oil palms are pruned during the harvesting of fresh fruit bunches for palm oil production. Besides, many fronds are produced by replanting each year, making these fronds show an up-and-coming source for composite panels and ensuring their abundance and availability.

*Processing and Properties of Oil Palm Fronds Composite Boards from* Elaeis guineensis *DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98222*

The oil palm trees are typically planted about 145 oil palm trees per ha. People can harvest about 25 pieces of fronds from a single palm tree roughly. Each frond weighs about 8 kg [19]. This frond weighs resulted in about 200 kg of fronds that can be obtained in a year. Malaysia can produce about 30 tons of frond biomass in 1 ha in a year. Other reviews show that under standard practice, around two palms are pruned per palm per month. Under the current plantation system in Malaysia, the oil palm density per ha is about 136 palm trees per ha. Therefore, this would yield at least 3200 pruned fronds per ha per year, yielding at least 18 mt of fronds biomass per year [20].

Oil palm fronds have great potential for use as a roughage source or as a component in compound feed for ruminants, either fresh or processed as silage or pellet [1]. This is because oil palm fronds contain the right level of nutrients, which is 70%, and the rest is carbohydrate content [21]. According to the Husin et al. [22], for soil conservation, increase fertility, improve the amount of water retention in the ground, erosion control and provide a source of nutrient to the growing oil palm trees, the fronds were left to rot in between the row of oil palm trees in the plantation. Oil palms by-products are available in a large quantity sufficient for industrial raw materials in agro-based industries. The endless and consistent supply of lignocellulosic materials from the oil palm industry, especially oil palm fronds, should be considered as new bio-resources. New product development from oil palm is now at their stage of research to be developed later on.
