Oil Palm Fruit Bunches Research Articles

Pengaruh Variasi Ukuran Partikel pada Pembuatan Bio-Briket dari Pelepah dan Tandan Buah Kosong Kelapa Sawit

Palm oil empty fruit bunches (EFB) and fronds are solid waste originating from palm oil processing which can be used as the main raw material for making briquettes. This is supported by its contents, namely lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose. The smaller the particle size, the greater the compressive strength of the briquette, but the burning rate will be slower because the cavity/pores of the briquette are smaller. This research aims to determine the effect of particle (mesh) size on the characteristics of briquettes which include water content, ash content, density, compressive strength and burning rate as well as to determine the best composition of a mixture of empty oil palm fruit bunches and fronds. The results of this research show that the best particle size is 70 mesh briquettes with a raw material composition of 46% EFB and 46% fronds (1:1) with 8% tapioca flour adhesive. Biobriquettes with small particle sizes have lower calorific value. The results of this research indicate that the manufacture of briquettes is in accordance with the Standard Characteristics of SNI No. 1/6235/2000.

Perbandingan Algoritma CART dan C.4 5 Pada Citra Tandan Buah Sawit Untuk Mengetahui Tingkat Kematangan Dalam Penentuan Harga

Information technology is a means and infrastructure of a system method to organize, send, interpret, use, process, obtain, and store data in a meaningful and useful way. Oil palm is a tropical plant originating from West Africa. The advantage of this plant is that it can also be planted outside its place of origin, including Indonesia. This plant has been widely cultivated in the form of plantations and factories in various regions in Indonesia. Oil palm is an industrial plant that is used as a raw material for vegetable oil, industrial oil, and fuel. Oil palm is important for Indonesia because it creates jobs for local people and is a source of foreign currency for the country. Oil palm plants begin to flower and form fruit after 2-3 years. The fruit will ripen about 5-6 months after pollination. The ripening process of oil palm fruit can be seen from the change in color of the fruit's skin. The fruit will turn orange-red when ripe. When the fruit is ripe, the oil content in the fruit flesh is at its maximum. If it is too ripe, the oil palm fruit will fall from the stalk of the bunch. This study aims to assess the maturity of a bunch of oil palm fruit. The methods used in this study are CART and C.4 5. Each method has several stages that will produce entropy and gain values ​​that will later form a decision tree. The dataset consists of 37 data consisting of 10 criteria originating from Ramp 789 Batang Peranap. Based on the implementation of the C4.5 algorithm and the CART algorithm in determining the level of ripeness of oil palm fruit bunches on RAMP 789 Batang Peranap which produces an accuracy of 98.00%. These results are obtained based on Process data with testing using the RapidMiner application, which produces a Decision tree that is useful as a reference for decisions in determining whether or not oil palm fruit bunches are ripe, which so far have only been predicted.

Novel Fungicide from Waste Oil Palm Fruit Bunch for Sustainable Management of Tomato Wilt Disease Caused by Fusarium oxysporum - experimental and in silico studies

Tomato wilt, a widespread and persistent disease caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, can be effectively controlled through biological approaches, promoting ecosystem sustainability and enhancing agricultural productivity and quality. This study explored the use of empty oil palm fruit bunch (EOPFB) waste as a natural fungicide to control tomato Fusarium wilt disease through in vitro, pilot scale, and molecular docking experiments. EOPFB aqueous extract showed the highest mycelium growth inhibition of 68.3 %, with the commercial fungicide Mancozeb exhibiting a moderate 42.30 % inhibition, and sterile distilled water having a negligible effect of 0.24 %. The inhibition rate varied with concentration, peaking at 72.63 % at 0.15 g/mL and dropping to 54.80 % at 0.01 g/mL. In terms of wilt disease incidence and severity, EOPFB performed best, recording the lowest incidence of 47.20 % and severity of 15.58 %. Mancozeb followed closely, with an incidence of 46.30 % and severity of 26.23 %. Sterile distilled water, on the other hand, showed the highest incidence of 76.28 % and severity of 56.17 %. Molecular docking simulations corroborated the experimental results, validating the potency of EOPFB as an inhibitor of trypsin from F. oxysporum, and identifying 2-amino-5,6-dimethyl-3 H-pyrimidine-4-one as the primary active compound responsible for the fungicidal activity. This phytochemical, abundant in the crude ethanolic extract of EOPFB, was found to have a higher binding affinity (6.1 kcal/mol) than Mancozeb (4.8 kcal/mol), at the trypsin target. These findings demonstrate the potential of EOPFB, an agricultural waste product, as a sustainable and eco-friendly solution for managing tomato Fusarium wilt disease, contributing to increased tomato production. It also highlights the potential of 2-amino-5,6-dimethyl-3 H-pyrimidine-4-one as a lead compound for the development of novel, natural fungicides, and underscores the value of EOPFB as a rich source of bioactive compounds with agricultural and biotechnological applications.

Detection of new oil palm fruit bunches based on deep learning

Abstract The Indonesian oil palm plantation experiences a production rate of fresh fruit bunches and crude palm oil (CPO) influenced by the quality of fruits with excellent and uniform maturity accepted by the palm oil processing factory. The uniformity of fruit quality produced from the harvesting process through fruit maturity criteria, namely fractions 00, fraction 1, fraction 3, and fraction 4, necessitates the need for maturity detection based on deep learning with a pre-trained YOLOv5 model capable of detecting the maturity of new oil palm fruit bunches. The aim is to develop a deep learning-based maturity detection model based on visual images and analyse the deep learning algorithm’s performance by classifying the maturity level of new oil palm fruit bunches. The method collects a dataset of new oil palm fruit bunches with 4180 images. The collected dataset will be annotated with Roboflow, so the annotation results will undergo training, validation, and testing processes using the deep learning script. The result obtained for the data found to detect the ripeness levels of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB), shows that the YOLOv5 model demonstrates strong performance with an accuracy reaching 72.5% in testing, which falls into the category of fair annotation. These results indicate that the system created and used is functioning well.

Life cycle assessment of oil palm plantation in Riau province: evaluating environmental impacts

Abstract Indonesia possesses palm oil as one of its strategic commodities, and it plays a crucial role in its economic growth. Over the years, the expansion of land and the production of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) of palm oil has consistently increased, accompanied by a rise in land area and crude palm oil (CPO) production. The pivotal role of Indonesia as the world’s largest palm oil producer must be highlighted through sustainability studies, especially in environmental aspects. Life cycle assessment is a technique utilized to evaluate the environmental implications of products, processes, and services, spanning their complete life cycle from the extraction of raw materials to waste management. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) encompasses various environmental impact categories, providing a comprehensive understanding of the ecological contribution of a product or service. This research assesses the environmental impact of oil palm plantation activities in Riau province, Indonesia. The research’s boundary is set to a cradle-to-gate analysis within the oil palm plantation subsystem. The Life Cycle Assessment was conducted utilizing the SimaPro 9.5.0.0 software employing the ReCiPe 2016 method. The total emissions generated during the production process of 5 tons of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) amount to 1634.22 kg CO2 eq/5 tons of FFB. The major contributors to emissions are the production and use of inorganic fertilizers. Specifically, the types of fertilizers responsible for the high greenhouse gas emissions are KCl, followed by phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers. Besides the potential for global warming, human carcinogenic toxicity is another potential impact, primarily from fertilization. The findings in this study can serve as scientific evidence in formulating solutions for sustainable oil palm plantations, particularly in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. An environmentally conscious approach to lowering emissions requires meticulous scrutiny and implementation of precision farming. It chiefly involves keeping a close watch on the quantity of fertilizer used in plantation settings and promoting using fertilizers with lower carbon footprints.

Downdraft Gasifier for Oil Palm Empty Bunches with Computational Fluid Dynamics

Abstract The demand for palm oil increases every year and this condition proportional to the increase in waste from the manufacture of palm oil. Therefore, this study aims to determine the potential of empty palm fruit bunches to be used as renewable energy. This research simulated Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) gasification with empty oil palm fruit bunches using a downdraft gasifier, then simulated with three variations of air flow rates. This is done because the air flow rate is very influential on the temperature and gasification results. The best and uniform variation was obtained at a water flow rate of 25 L/min with a resulting temperature of 28 °C to 957 °C and with an even temperature coverage in the reactor. Then in this study the syngas H2, CO, CO2 and CH4 were obtained which were not evenly distributed in the reactor at all variations of air flow rate, and for the acquisition of syngas H2, CO, CO2 and CH4 the most were obtained at variations of air flow rate of 25 L/min.

Preparation and characterization of physical properties of molded pulp from empty fruit bunches of oil palm

This research aims to determine the impact of pretreatment on empty fruit bunches (EFB) of palm oil fibers before the pulping process on the quality of the molded pulp produced. The study includes EFB fiber pretreatment processes, pulp production, pulp molding, physical characteristic analysis, and molded pulp performance evaluation. The pulp production process involves acid-base hydrolysis reactions. The produced molded pulp is done manually. Characterization of the molded pulp includes measurements of paper grammage, thickness, density, and moisture content. The characteristics of pulp produced from pretreated EFB fibers are as follows: an average grammage value of 415.48 g/m², paper thickness of 1.53 mm, water absorption capacity of 13.33-33.33%, density of paper of 0,026 x 106 - 0,027 x 106 g/m3, and a smooth surface morphology. Meanwhile, the characteristics of pulp produced from without pretreatment EFB fibers include an average grammage value of 372.18 g/m², paper thickness of 0.77 mm, water absorption capacity of 20.34-43.21%, density of paper of 0,004 x 106 - 0,008 x 106 g/m3, and a rough surface morphology due to pores on the fiber surface.

The improvement of available phosphorous of reclaimed-mining soils with coal fly ash and empty fruit bunches of oil palm treatments

Abstract Reclaimed-mining soil (RMS) were categorized as having an acidic pH, low organic carbon (C), low available phosphorous (P), and high contents of aluminium (Al) and iron (Fe); therefore, soil ameliorants were essentially added to this soil for improving soil fertility. The purpose of the research was to measure the impact of combining empty fruit bunches of oil palm (EFBOP) and coal fly ash (CFA) on the available P of RMS. Three rates of CFA application: 0, 75, and 150 Mg ha−1 and three rates of EFBOP application: 0, 25, and 50 Mg ha−1 were organized using a completely randomized design. A 1000 g of soil was placed to an experimental pot, and then CFA and EFBOP according to the treatment were added to the pot. The mixture of soils, CFA, and EFBOP were homogenized, and then incubated at 70% water holding capacity for 45 days. Available P, total P, Al-P, Fe-P, soil pH, and exchangeable Al were quantifies following the completion of incubation period. The findings of this research indicated that available P rose from 3 mg kg−1 of control (soil without treatment) to 5-41 mg kg−1 of soils with different amounts of CFA and EFBOP addition. The application of CFA and EFBOP also resulted in increases in soil pH from 4.33 in the control to pH 4.48-6.23. Additionally, the levels of Al-P, Fe-P, and exchangeable aluminum decreased with the application of CFA and EFBOP. The findings of this study highlight the potency utilizing industrial and agricultural wastes as soil ameliorants for improving available P to support plant growth on the reclaimed-mining soils.

Rancang Bangun Mesin Digesting Tandan Kosong Kelapa Sawit Sebagai Bahan Baku Brown Paper

Indonesia's pulp and paper production capacity was 5.5% of global production capacity in 2021. As an effort to support the development of the pulp and paper industry in Indonesia, pulp from empty oil palm fruit bunches (EFB) waste which are currently abundant is being tried to develope as raw material for brown paper. To simplify the process of developing pulp quality from EFB, the authors tried to design a rotary digester on a laboratory scale as a EFB digesting machine. The steps used in this research are assembling digester, making pulp, and finally analyzing the data. The digester machine was successfully designed to carry out the pulping process with operating conditions at a pressure of 7 bar, a temperature of 160°C, and a stirrer speed of 80 rpm with a maximum capacity of 1.3 L. The designed rotary digester is capable of producing pulp with an optimal yield level (43%) under reaction conditions, a temperature of 100°C and a NaOH concentration of 5%.

Extraction of K2CO3 from empty palm fruit bunch ash and properties analysis

Empty oil palm fruit bunches (EPFB) are the largest solid waste generated from palm oil mills. Accounting for 21-23 % of the total fresh fruit bunches. EFB ash contains K (Potassium) which can be recovered as K2CO3 through extraction. This research aims to recover K2CO3 from empty oil palm fruit bunches (EPFB) as a catalyst raw material because it is alkaline using the K2CO3 extraction method from the ash of empty oil palm fruit bunches (EPFB), which begins with a combustion process at a temperature of 700 oC to obtain ash. Ash extraction was carried out in 2 stages using water as a solvent. The K2CO3 yield from empty palm fruit bunch ash reached 57.28 %. The alkalinity test showed that the K2CO3 content in the solid extract reached 85.91 %. The properties of the ash and K2CO3 produced were analyzed using XRF, XRD and FTIR. The results of XRF analysis show that the potassium content in the ash contains the element K (potassium) which is quite large, namely 71.24 % and after extraction the purity of potassium oxide reaches 97.08 %. XRD analysis of the results of the synthesis of potassium carbonate from empty oil palm fruit bunches showed that the intensity of the material beam was obtained in a 2ϴ pattern which was lower than the intensity pattern of pure potassium carbonate. The results of FTIR analysis show that the spectrum of carbonate ions from the EPFB C-O bend is visible at 1359,879 and 700.75 cm-1 and these results are similaire to the pure carbonate ion vibration mode.

Development of a Dual Stripping and Screening Machine for Separating Oil Palm Fruit Bunch

The purpose of this study was to design, fabricate, and evaluate a dual stripping and screening machine for oil palm fruits in Nigeria, with the aim of improving efficiency, reducing damage to the fruits, and minimizing injuries to processors. The study involved the design and fabrication of a machine that could easily handle palm fruit bunches (PFB), separate the fruits from the chaff, and minimize damage to the fruits. The evaluation was conducted using a 3×3×3 factorial experiment, with three levels of PFB sizes, three levels of operating speed, and three replications. The evaluation results showed that the optimal operating speed for the machine was 1000 rpm. At this speed, the machine achieved a stripping efficiency of 98.6% for small PFB sizes, 89.93% for medium PFB sizes, and 85.68% for large PFB sizes. The screening efficiency was 98.62%, 96.23%, and 95.68% for small, medium, and large PFB sizes, respectively. The percentage of damage to the fruits was 2.25%, 2.11%, and 2.55% for small, medium, and large PFB sizes, respectively. The output capacity of the machine was 131.25 kg, 139.30 kg, and 165.36 kg for small, medium, and large PFB sizes, respectively. This study presents a novel dual stripping and screening machine for oil palm fruits, addressing the time-consuming and labor-intensive manual post-harvest operations associated with the local method. The machine's design and evaluation provide valuable insights for improving efficiency and reducing damage in oil palm industries in Nigeria.

Kinetic and combustion characteristics of oil palm empty fruit bunch biochar using thermogravimetric analysis

The usage of renewable energy is a mitigation phenomenon majorly impacting the power sectors, with biomass being one of the sources directly replacing coal in various applications. This leads to the portrayal of biomass having the potential to be a carbonaceous material, namely the Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) of oil palm. To increase the characteristics of EFB, it can be converted into carbon-based products through thermochemical processes, such as hydrothermal carbonization. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the characteristics of feedstock and biochar EFB using the TGA method. The heating rate used in this study is 10 – 30°C/min at five °C/min intervals. The effect of heating rate on kinetic parameters and thermal (DTG, TGA) and combustion (T ignition, T burn out) characteristics was also determined. This study carried out the HTC process at temperatures of 210ᵒC and 230ᵒC. The results showed that biochar EFB had a higher ignition, burnout temperature, and activation energy than raw EFB. Ignition temperatures for EFB-HT210°C and EFB-HT230°C were 297°C and 298°C; burnout temperatures for EFB-HT210°C, EFB-HT230°C were 407°C and 450°C; and the activation energy for EFB-HT210°C, EFB-HT230°C were 58.84 kJ/mol and 62.16 kJ/mol. Besides the characteristics of biomass, the heating rate also affects combustion. This proved that increased heating rate caused higher ignition and burnout temperature and decreased activation energy. The results also indicated that the difference in heating rate influenced the peak temperature in DTG.

Physicochemical Properties of African Black Soap Prepared with Alkali Derived from (Empty) Oil Palm Fruit Bunches

The use of oil palm biomass in black soap production was carried out. The soap was prepared using different oils; Palm kernel oil (PKO), Tallow oil (TO), Palm oil (PO), Palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) and their blends (PKO:PFAD:TO:PO) at 0.5 ratio each. The physiochemical properties of the different oils and their blends were studied. The moisture content, bulk density, foaming stability, pH, solubility of metallic salts and surface tension of the different black soaps produced were analyzed. The results of the oils and their blends had free fatty acid values between (2.56 - 49.48) %, saponification values of (231.4 - 450.20) KOH/g and relative densities of (0.97-1.008) g/ml. The results indicated that the moisture content ranged from (6.0 -7.4) % for all soaps, with the lowest (6.0%) observed in PKO, the highest (7.4%) observed in soaps made with PO and PKO:PFAD:TO:PO blends. The bulk density of the soaps ranged from (0.55 - 0.94) g/cm3. The PKO: PFAD soap had the highest foam stability of 7.4cm and PKO soap (2.08cm) the lowest. The soap produced with various oils and their blends showed a neutral pH in the range of 7.25 -7.38. The metallic salts NaCl, KCl and HgCl2 were soluble in the soap solution with no precipitate formed while MnCl2, PbCl3, and CuCl2 salts precipitated out of the soap solution. The surface tension of water was lowered at different rates by the soaps. The black soap produced with the oils and their blends met the standard quality specification for commercial soaps within the geographical area of manufacture.

Combined leaching and steam explosion pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for high quality feedstock for thermochemical applications

A novel pretreatment approach was developed in the present study to simultaneously reduce the content of inorganic troubling elements (TEs) and improve biomass energy density, i.e., combined leaching and steam explosion (SE) pretreatment with mechanical pressing. Three different high-ash-containing biomass feedstocks were studied – wheat straw (WS), spruce bark (SB), and empty fruit bunches of oil palm (EFB). Before studying the combined pretreatment, the impact of individual pretreatment was determined in-depth on biomass composition and ash-transformation behaviour. In leaching pretreatment, the effect of leaching with steam explosion condensate (SEC), dilute acetic acid and water was studied comprehensively. The solid (raw and treated) and liquid samples (leachate, SEC, hydrolysate) were characterized for a detailed comparative analysis. The ash-fusion and −transformation behaviour of raw and pretreated biomass was studied in-depth using advanced multicomponent thermodynamic equilibrium modelling (TEM) and push-rod dilatometry. After combined pretreatment, a considerably high reduction in TEs content was noted: 82–98 % K, 93–99 % Na, 80–99 % Cl, 34–90 % S, 3–77 % Mg, ash 43–63 %, 26–67 % P, and 19–63 % Ca. Simultaneously, heating values of all three feedstocks increased by 1.3–2.3 MJ/kg, reaching up to 20–22 MJ/kg. TEM results reveal that much lesser amounts of molten slag and volatile inorganic compounds were formed in pretreated samples compared to raw and SE biomass, such as K2Si5MgO12, KCl, KPMgO4, K2Si2O5, CaSiO3, and MgSiO3 in WS; Na2CO3, K2CO3, K2CaC2O6, KPMgO4, and CaCO3 in SB. Due to higher energy density and lower propensity towards ash-related issues, combined pretreated WS and SB have a high potential to be used in large-scale thermochemical applications.

Changes in properties of reclaimed-mine soil, plant growth, and metal accumulation in plants with application of coal fly ash and empty fruit bunches of oil palm

Reclaimed-mining soil (RMS) is characterized by low fertility, acidic pH, and high heavy metal contents. As a result, adding amendments becomes essential to support plant growth. Therefore, this research measured alterations in the characteristics of RMS, plant growth, and metal accumulation in plants with the co-application of coal fly ash (CFA) and empty fruit bunches of oil palm (EFBOP). In the first experiment, various levels of CFA (0, 75, and 150 Mg ha-1) and EFBOP (0, 25, and 50 Mg ha-1) were added to the RMS and then incubated at 70% water holding capacity for 45 days to determine their effect on changes in soil properties. In the second experiment, four treatments: control, CFA, EFBOP, and CFA+EFBOP were tested in the greenhouse to quantify their effects on the growth and metal accumulation of plants. Results of the study showed that the co-application of CFA and EFBOP significantly affected bulk density, pH, mineral nitrogen (NH4+ and NO3-), available phosphorus, and exchangeable Ca and Mg in RMS. CFA application increased exchangeable Al by 82-160%, while EFBOP resulted in a decrease of 24-119%. CEC decreased with CFA application and increased with the use of EFBOP. Plant growth increased with the co-application of CFA and EFBOP. The addition of CFA to soils results in increasing metal contents in plant tissue; however, the presence of EFBOP reduced the concentrations of metal in plant tissue. These results highlight the potential of CFA and EFBOP, which are industrial and agricultural wastes, as valuable soil amendments.

Potensi Asap Cair Tandan Kosong Kelapa Sawit Untuk Menekan Pertumbuhan Gulma Teki (Cyperus kyllingia)

C. kyllingia is an annual weed that can cause problems because it can reduce the quantity and quality of cultivated plant production, so this weed needs to be controlled. Weed control with synthetic herbicides is currently more popular because its effectiveness can be seen more quickly. However, if synthetic herbicides are used for a long period of time, they will affect soil conditions. Therefore, an alternative weed control using liquid smoke from empty oil palm fruit bunches (TKKS) is needed. The research aims to determine the potential of TKKS liquid smoke in controlling the growth of sedge weed (C. kyllingia). The design used a 1 factor Completely Randomized Design consisting of 5 treatments and 5 replications with liquid smoke concentrations of 0%, 8.3%, 16.6%, 25% and 33.3%. Research shows that TKKS liquid smoke has the potential to be used as a natural herbicide because it has an effect on suppressing the growth of the C. kyllingia weed. The best concentration that can suppress weed growth is 33.3% liquid smoke.

Antioxidant activity, GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) production, and potential for colonization of Lactobacillus fermentum InaCC B1295 encapsulated with cellulose microfiber hydrogel from oil palm solid waste during storage

Lactobacillus fermentum InaCC B1295 is a probiotic bacterium that improves intestinal and immune systems, positively impacting human health. It produces various bioactive compounds, including bacteriocin, antioxidant enzymes, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and colonizes the human gastrointestinal system. This study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant activity (IC50), GABA production, and colonization potential of L. fermentum InaCC B1295 with encapsulation by cellulose microfiber from oil palm solid waste (trunk, frond, leaf, and empty bunches) at room and refrigeration temperature with storage time 0, 14, and 28 days. The strain InaCC B1295 showed a high activity to scavenging ability against DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) for the treatment with encapsulation with oil palm empty bunches at refrigeration temperature after storage 14 days, which reached 88.56 ppm. Furthermore, L. fermentum InaCC B1295 produced GABA ranging from 0.435 mg/L to 2.215 mg/L. Lactobacillus fermentum InaCC B1295 encapsulated with oil palm leaf produced the most GABA at 0-day storage with a concentration of 2.215 mg/L and decreased during storage for all treatments. L. fermentum InaCC B1295 cells encapsulated in CMF hydrogel from empty oil palm fruit bunches had a lower autoaggregation value than free cells. The cells encapsulated with CMF hydrogel from oil palm empty bunches, on the other hand, had higher coaggregation and hydrophilicity values than the free cells (unencapsulated cells).

Integrating Heavy Metal Adsorption on Organic Waste Materials into Defense and Security Studies: A Sustainable Approach

This study aims to examine the plausible fusion of heavy metal adsorption through lignin derived from organic waste materials into the realm of defense and safety studies. This study underscores the imperative nature of addressing heavy metal pollution within defense operations and environmental conservation. It proposes utilizing lignin, derived from organic waste materials, as a pivotal solution to combat heavy metal contamination. By synthesizing insights from existing literature, this research delves into lignin's potential as a highly effective adsorbent tailored for the defense sector. The study illuminates lignin's versatility in interacting with heavymetals through multifaceted adsorption mechanisms, offering a sustainable strategy to mitigate environmental harm while fortifying national resilience. Derived from diverse biomass sources, including peanut shells, cocoa pod shells, coconut shells, rice husks, and empty oil palm fruit bunches, lignin exhibits promising adsorption capacitiesattributed to its ample surface area and diverse functional groups. Emphasizing a holistic perspective, this research advocates for an integrated approach that harnesses lignin's robust adsorption capabilities to meet the specific demands of defense and security, envisioning a future that is both secure and sustainable. This is attributed to the inherent properties of lignin, such as its abundant surface area and diverse functional groups. The lignin derived from these biomasses offers a versatile and effective solution, showcasing high adsorption potential due to its ability to accommodate various heavy metal ions and contribute to sustainable environmental remediation practices. By synergizing lignin's robust adsorption attributes with therequisites of defense and security, this research advocates for a comprehensive approach, fostering a vision of a secure and sustainable future.

Application of Nanocrystal Cellulose Based on Empty Palm Oil Fruit Bunch as Glucose Biosensing

Abstract. Biosensors for glucose sensing purposes are important since diabetes is a worldwide disease. One of the components of glucose biosensors is cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). CNCs are cellulose derivatives that could be extracted from oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB). Indonesia has a high potential for OPEFB due to its abundance of resources. CNCs have poor conductivity as biosensors, so adding supporting electro-conductor components such as graphene and carbon nanotubes (G-CNT) is necessary. In this research, the amount of bleaching agent of H2O2 in CNCs extraction varies between 1.5% and 10%, and the portion of CNCs in the composite varies between 5%, 15%, and 30%. The purpose of this research is to create an optimum biosensor composite based on its CNCs quality through particle size analysis (PSA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests followed by cyclic voltammetry to determine biosensor’s impedance, limit of detection (LOD), and performance stability. Fourier transform infra red (FTIR) tests are also conducted as process control. The research shows the success of delignification in CNC extraction based on FTIR. Crystallinity enhancement up to 51% as delignification using 1.5% and 10% H2O2 yields CNC with a crystallinity index of 87.1% and 94.0%. The average size of CNCs with delignification by 1.5% and 10% H2O2 are 640.0 nm and 579.8 nm, respectively. Results of testing the biosensor glucose G-CNT/CNC showed the best composition is 5% CNCs that using 10% H2O2 which the highest oxidation peak is 0.00205 A and reduction peak is -0.00223 A. Data of variance composition show the difference of the data is significant by using ANOVA SPSS Test. The biosensor has an accuracy of 83.2% in a test for diabetic urine.

The Insect Pest Management Strategies and Their Influence on The Emergence Rate of Elaeidobius kamerunicus Faust (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) From The Post-Anthesising Male Inflorescence of Oil Palm, Elaeis guineensis

Elaeidobius kamerunicus is the main pollinating insect of oil palm, Elaeis guineensis in Malaysia. Elaiedobius kamerunicus feeds and breeds on the oil palms' male inflorescences. The weevil presence is vital for the successful pollination of oil palm, thus ensuring satisfactory fruit bunch production. MPOB recently reported that the declining quality of oil palm fruit bunch, mainly due to insufficient pollination, had affected the national average oil extraction rate. In part, this scenario was caused by the declining pollinator population. As such, the factors affecting the pollinators' population need to be investigated. One of the critical criteria in estimating the population of E. kamerunicus in the field is to measure the emergence rate of the new adult E. kamerunicus from the post-anthesis male inflorescence (PAMI). The study to investigate the rate of E. kamerunicus adult emergence and their sex ratio was conducted for four months at nine oil palm estates in Malaysia by using PAMI samples that were brought to the laboratory and observed for two weeks. The results have shown that the number of adult weevils that emerged from PAMI was about 36-47 individuals, and the female-to-male ratio for the emerged progenies was 2.33-4.46: 1. Indiscriminate application of broad-spectrum pyrethroid insecticide, cypermethrin has negatively influenced the weevil emergence rate in the field. Whereas, minimal impact on the emergence rate was observed in areas applied with biopesticide. This study showed that the application of cypermethrin could threaten the future population of the pollinating weevil in the field. As such, the excessive application of such insecticides in the field is discouraged and should be replaced by biopesticides to complement other Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies. In addition, further investigation is needed to understand how the gender ratio of the progeny could affect the future population of E. kamerunicus.