JAKARTA –The Palm Oil Research Center (PPKS) increased the added value of the wastes of oil palm trees, which were resulted from the replanting program, by utilizing them as alternative raw material to produce plywood or sandwich laminated lumber.
“The already old oil palm trees are very potential to be utilized as substitute of woods from the forests,” Dr. Erwinsyah, a researcher of PPKS, said during a webinar on strengthening the palm oil industry based on new technology resulted from research in Jakarta, on Wednesday, 30 March 2022.
Erwinsyah said that the processing of palm tree wastes into products of higher value will reduce deforestation, carbon emissions, and help accelerate the implementation of replanting program for plantations of smallholders, private and state-owned companies.
According to him, as a large part of Indonesia’s oil palm plantations already old, the oil palm trees from the replanting program are abundantly available all year round. “The replanting program has been intensified since 2015 and it is implemented in almost all centers of oil palm plantations. Every year around 300,000 – 500,000 hectares of oil plantation areas are subjected to the replanting program,” he said.
He said that oil palm plantations that are already 25-30 years old had passed its production peak and needs replanting. Usually, the oil palm trees are just left to rot in the plantation areas. A number of companies chopped the palm trees to speed up the decay process.
By using the result of research conducted by Erwinsyah and his team, the oil palm wastes can be utilized as raw material to produce plywood or sandwich laminated lumber.
At the average length of 8-8.5 meters or around 75 percent of the palm tree volume is peeled with potato peeling pattern and then sawed into palm boards by using chainsaw. The process is resulted in an extraction rate of 42.75 percent of the total volume of each palm tree.
Products that can be made from the oil palm trees include laminate boards, laminate poles, laminate beams, comply boards and block boards.
The laminate products from the oil palm trees are used for interior and exterior uses in structural and non-structural functions. Finished products that can be made from the laminate products include furniture, insulating wall, flooring, door and window frames, doors, windows and acoustic instruments.
The technology of sandwich laminated lumber is applied by consistently considering the environmental aspect and sustainability of organic matter as a source of plant nutrients. It is due to the fact that only 52.5 percent of the total oil palm trees in every hectare are used for such production, leaving others available as organic sources for the oil palm plantations. (*)
Source: ANTARA | Featured image via vinawoodltd.com
