Chemical Characterization from Parenchyma and Vascular Bundle at Different Parts of Oil Palm Trunk

Million hectares of land in Malaysia is occupied with oil palm plantation generate the huge quantities of biomass. In this context, biomass from oil palm industries appears to be a very promising alternative as a source of raw materials including renewable energy in Malaysia. Thus, to enhance the use of the abundant biomass generated by the oil palm industry in Malaysia, a study was conducted in view of exploring the chemical characterization and sugar potential of this industrial byproduct. In this context, oil palm trunks were separated into individual cell that are parenchyma and vascular bundle to investigate the fundamental research about oil palm trunk. The aim of this study was to examine the chemical composition including holocellulose, alpha cellulose, lignin, starch, and sugar contents of parenchyma and vascular bundle of oil palm trunk. The oil palm trunk was kept under shade at room temperature of 28-30 degrees C for 0, 45, and 60 days. The chemical composition analysis was carried out according to TAPPI methods while analysis of sugar content was analyzed using HPLC method. Based on storage time and different part of oil palm trunk, the result has shown that holocellulose content was slightly higher in the vascular bundle compared to parenchyma. The sugar content was higher in parenchyma compared to vascular bundle and increase at the storage time of 0, 45, and 60 days while amount of starch showed decrease at the same storage time. It shows that conversion or fermentation of starch to sugar occur in oil palm trunk during storage times of 0, 45, and 60 days, respectively.