Exploitation of lignocellulosic wastes derived from palm oil industrial production for composite materials development.

Abstract

Fast-growing of African palm oil (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) industry in Ecuador has generated large quantities of empty-fruit-bunch wastes which are currently disposed over the soil of palm plantations. In this context, the objective of the doctoral study is to obtain composite materials based on thermoplastic matrices and lignocellulosic wastes derived from the industrial production of African palm oil in Ecuador. Initially, collection and milling of fiber wastes were carried out. Once the granulometric behavior of the ground fiber was determined, both physicochemical characterization and infrared spectrometry with Fourier transform analysis were accomplished. The results show thatgranulometric distribution is not correlated to fiber location in empty-fruit-bunch. In addition, greater percentage of retention at 0.42 mm mesh size was observed. Infrared spectrophotometry bands are associated to cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Those bands present similar intensity in any peduncle fraction of the waste.