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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.

“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. The 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 is hot-pressed to achieve the desired density and final solid form of the fiberboard.

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