Abstract:
This research aimed to: (1) study the chemical pretreatment of oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers, (2) identify the ratio of oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers used as poly lactic acid co-agents in the yarn production, and (3) test the physical properties of the polylactic acid yarn mixed with oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers.
For the chemical pretreatment, there were two factors in the study; chemical type and chemical quantity. The former consisted of 50% sodium hydroxide solution and 50% sulfuric acid while the latter composed of 2 levels of chemical content: 5 and 10% by volume-by-volume (V/V). The experimental design was based on completely randomized factorial design (Factorial in CRD). The amount of oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers used as a co-polylactic acid copolymer in the yarn production which was completely randomized (CRD) was the factor in this study tested with the ratio of palm oil varying in 4 levels : 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0%. The physical properties of the polylactic acid mixed with oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers were then tested by the ASTM and JIS Standards.
It was found that the fibers after pretreatment with a 10% sodium hydroxide solution had the highest percentage of cellulose content of 69.3. The 1.0% oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers mixture ratio could be a contributor to the highest amount of the yarn production. The physical properties test also revealed that 1.0% of polylactic acid mixed with oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers resulted in the following properties; - 1.30% of shrinkage, 54.10 Newton of strength, 4.87 elongation before tearing; 1,298 tex of thread size, 0.38 mm of thickness, and 3.68 mm of width. Moreover, the amount of oil palm bunch powder distribution in the yarn increased with the melting temperature at (Tm) 175.20 °C; the crystallization temperature at (Tcc) 100.40 °C, and the highest percentage of crystallinity at (96 Xc) 6.69%.