Oil palm are among the best known and most extensively cultivated plant families, especially Indonesia and Malaysia. Many common products and foods are derived from oil palm, its making them one of the most economically important plants. On the other hand, declining supply of raw materials from natural resources has motivated researchers to find alternatives to produce new materials from sustainable resources like oil palm. Oil palm waste is possibly an ideal source for cellulose-based natural fibers and particles. Generally, oil palm waste such as oil palm empty fruit bunches, oil palm trunk, oil palm shell and oil palm ash are good source of biomaterials. Lack of sufficient documentation of existing scientific information about the utilization of oil palm waste raw materials for biomaterial production is the driving force behind the this chapter. Incorporation of various types of biomaterial derived from oil palm waste resources as reinforcement in polymer matrices lead to the development of biocomposites products and this can be used in wide range of potential applications. Properties and characterization of biomaterial from oil palm waste will not only help to promote further study on nanomaterials derived from non-wood materials but also emphasize the importance of commercially exploit oil palm waste for sustainable products.

The study aimed to investigate the effect of thermal compression on the properties of 8-year-old waru gunung wood. Wood specimens with the dimension of 25 mm100 mm150 mm in thickness, width and length, respectively were heated at 180 ˚C and 200 ˚C for 4 h. During the heating process, the specimens were subsequently compressed at 2.452 N mm−2 for 40 mins at each temperature. Changes in the wood chemical structure were examined using the pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the wood physical properties were tested according to ASTM D143-94, the wood surface hardness was tested using a Universal Testing Machine and the wood discoloration was examined using the CIELab method. The changes in crystallinity degree was examined using x-ray diffraction and cell structure were collected as supporting data. Results showed that the thermal compression at 180 ˚C and 200 ˚C caused severe degradation on the specimen carbohydrate but less for lignin. The sum effect of thermal compression on the specimens also consecutively increased the density by 34.24% and 41.87% and surface hardness by 52.78% and 63.09% and decreased the swelling thickness by 38.54% and 47.03% and the equilibrium moisture content by 36.53% and 38.59% at 180 ˚C and 200 ˚C, respectively. Thermally compressed specimens also had darker colours, glossier surfaces and smoother texture compared to non-thermally compressed specimens.

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Eucalyptus pellita F. Muell is one of the species selected for the development of the plantation forest in Indonesia. In order to obtain a superior plant for the continuity of the plantation forest program, various tree breeding techniques are often applied, one of which is through best provenance selection. Conventional or advanced tree breeding program generally aims to obtain a fast-growing plant with good physical appearance. The program rarely gives attention to the properties/characteristics of timber produced. This aspect becomes the main background of this particular study which aims to investigate the effect of four provenances and also to examine the effect of sampling position on the trees on several physical properties of E. pellita. The result showed that the highest moisture content (97.34 + 15.67%) was found in the bottom part of trees from Indonesia provenance. While, the highest air-dry moisture content (15.15 + 0.20%) was observed in the top-part samples from Provenance North Kiriwo PNG. Samples from Provenance Serisa Village PNG have the highest density ranges, approximately 590 + 90 kg/m 3 and 630 + 80 kg/m 3 in the bottom-part samples and in the top-part samples, respectively. The highest T/R ratio, approximately 1.91 + 0.26, was observed in the bottompart samples from Provenance South Kiriwa, PNG. The T/R ratio values of all provenances were less than 2, indicating the lumber will be possibly stable during its uses or further processing. Further result showed provenance factor significantly affect initial moisture content and density. Sampling position on trees only affect affects the initial moisture content. Based on the results, the timber of E. pellita being examined can be further used for light-to-medium construction purpose.

THE DRYING PERFORMANCE AND POST-DRYING QUALITIES OF Eucalyptus saligna EXPOSED TO INTERMITTENT AND CONTINUOUS DRYING. Eucalyptus saligna tends to develop defects during its drying process, thus limiting its use as construction or furniture material. Intermittent drying, which applies non-heating phases between heating phases, has the potential to overcome this issue. This study evaluated the effects of 3 intermittent and one continuous schedule on the species' drying performance and post-drying qualities. The results showed that the boards from all intermittent schedules exhibit significantly slower drying rates (from-9.4x10-3 %/hour to-1.57 x10-2 %/hour) than those from the continuous schedule (from-5.12 x10-2 /hour to-1.03 x10-2 %/hour). All intermittent schedules tended to decrease the collapse depth in E. saligna boards (the average value range of the three schedules was 1.162-2.032 mm) than the continuous schedule did (the average value was 5.12 mm). Nevertheless, applying higher temperature than that used in the continuous schedule, during the heating phase of the intermittent schedule, potentially increased the moisture gradient, residual drying stress, end check length, internal check percentage, and spring depth.

It is presumed that the wood susceptibility to drying defects is related to several physical properties. This paper examines the drying defects: honeycombing and deformation of six wood species (trema, fast growing teak, bayur, jabon, angsana and lamtoro) during high temperature drying and analyses their relationship with initial moisture content, T/R shrinkage ratio and density. Terazawa method was used to examine the defect during high temperature drying. Result shows that after high temperature drying, lamtoro suffers the worst honeycombing (level 4-6), and fast growing teak deforms severely (level 4-6). Regression analysis shows multiple regression models using all physical properties as predictors provides better estimation on deformation and honeycombing than single-predictor regression models. The multiple regression model for each defect could explain 57.52% and 39.46% of variation in deformation and honeycombing, respectively. Keywords: Honeycombing, deformation, high temperature drying, defect, predictor (trema, jati cepat tumbuh, bayur, jabon, angsana, dan lamtoro) ABSTRAK Diasumsikan bahwa perbedaan kecenderungan setiap jenis kayu terhadap cacat pengeringan dipengaruhi oleh beberapa sifat fisik kayu. Tulisan ini mempelajari terbentuknya pecah dalam dan deformasi pada beberapa jenis kayu