**2.1 Properties of oil palm fibres**

Oil palm is one of the most economical and very high-potential perennial oil crops. It belongs to the species of Elaeis guineensis under the family Palmacea, and originated in the tropical forests of West Africa. Major industrial cultivation is in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Large-scale cultivation has come up in Latin America. In India, oil palm cultivation is coming up on a large-scale basis with a view to attaining self sufficiency in oil production.

Oil palm fibre is non-hazardous biodegradable material, extracted from oil palm's empty fruit bunch (EFB). Oil palm fibre is an important lignocellulosic raw material. OPEFB fibre and oil palm mesocarp fibre are two types of fibrous materials left in the palm-oil mill. The mesocarp fibres are left as a waste material after the oil extraction. These fibres must be cleaned of oily and dirty materials. The only current uses of this highly cellulosic material are as boiler fuel and in the preparation of potassium fertilizers. When left on the plantation oor, these waste materials create great environmental problems. Therefore, economic utilization of these fibres will be beneficial (Sreekala et al., 1997).


Table 2. Chemical constituents of oil palm empty fruit bunch fibre


\* 1 denier= 1/9000 g/m

Table 3. Physical and mechanical properties of oil palm empty fruit bunch fibre

OPEFB fibre is obtained after the subtraction of oil seeds from fruit bunch for oil extraction. OPEFB fibre is extracted by the retting process of the EFB. Average yield of OPEFB fibre is about 400 g per bunch. Previous studies report the mechanical properties of OPEFB fibres. Table 2 and Table 3 show the summary of oil palm fibre properties (Jacob et al., 2004; Sreekala et al., 2001; Sreekala et al., 1997)
