Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) is a multipurpose palm species from which a variety of foods and beverages, timber commodities, biofibres, biopolymers and biocomposites can be produced. Recently, it is being used as a source of renewable energy in the form of bio-ethanol via fermentation process of the sugar palm sap. Although numerous products can be produced from sugar palm, three products that are most prominent are palm sugar, fruits and fibres. This paper focuses mainly on the significance of fibres as they are highly durable, resistant to sea water and because they are available naturally in the form of woven fibre they are easy to process. Besides the recent advances in the research of sugar palm fibres and their composites, this paper also addresses the development of new biodegradable polymer derived from sugar palm starch, and presents reviews on fibre surface treatment, product development, and challenges and efforts on properties enhancement of sugar palm fibre composites.
ABSTRACT:The graft copolymerization of methyl acrylate onto sago starch was carried out by a free radical initiating process. The free radicals were produced by the chemical initiation method in which ceric ammonium nitrate was used as an initiator. It was found that the percentages of grafting, grafting efficiency, and rate of grafting were all dependent on the concentration of ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN), methyl acrylate (MA), sago starch (AGU), mineral acid (H 2 SO 4 ), and reaction temperature and period. The variables affecting the graft copolymerization were thoroughly examined. The optimum yield of grafting was obtained when the concentration of CAN, MA, AGU, and H 2 SO 4 were used at 8.77 ϫ 10 Ϫ3 , 0.803, 0.135, and 0.175 mol L Ϫ1 , respectively. The optimum reaction temperature and period were 50°C and 60 min, respectively. The rate of graft polymerization was explored on the basis of experimental results and reaction mechanism. The evidence of grafted copolymers was investigated by using FTIR spectroscopy, TG, and DSC analysis.
The present study investigated the tensile and impact behaviour of unsaturated polyester composites reinforced by fibre from different parts of the sugar palm tree. Sugar palm fibre i.e. sugar palm frond (SPF), sugar palm bunch (SPB), black sugar palm fibre (ijuk) and sugar palm trunk (SPT) which have high content of cellulose, low density, abundance and low cost, have the potential for polymer reinforcement. All composites were fabricated and labelled as SPF/PE, SPB/PE, ijuk/PE and SPT/PE. It was found that SPF/PE had the highest tensile strength which was 15.179 MPa (±2.425) followed by SPB/PE, ijuk/PE and SPT/PE with 12.809 MPa (±1.580), 11.473 MPa (±0.536) and 9.817 MPa (±1.890) respectively. For the impact strength analysis, SPF/PE showed the highest value (8.091 kJ m-2). Generally, SPF/PE had better tensile and impact properties than the other composites, due its high cellulose content.
ABSTRACT:In this article, the graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) onto sago starch (AGU) was carried out in aqueous medium using potassium persulfate (PPS) under nitrogen gas atmosphere. The maximum percentage of grafting achieved was 90% under optimized conditions of reaction temperature, monomer, PPS, AGU, and reaction period corresponding to 50°C, 47 mmol, 1.82 mmol, 6.17 ϫ 10 Ϫ3 mol L Ϫ1 , and 1.5 h, respectively. The grafting of MMA onto sago starch was confirmed by the differences in infrared spectroscopy. The viscosity measurement and the average molecular weight determination were estimated using Huggin's and Mark Houwink's equations, respectively. This material may have application as a biodegradable plastic.
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