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Wood-based industry is one of the main drivers of economic growth in Malaysia. Forest being the source of various lignocellulosic materials has many untapped potentials that could be exploited to produce sustainable and biodegradable nanosized material that possesses very interesting features for use in wood-based industry itself or across many different application fields. Wood-based products sector could also utilise various readily available nanomaterials to enhance the performance of existing products or to create new value added products from the forest. This review highlights recent developments in nanotechnology application in the wood-based products industry.

Abstract. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of beating process to the characteristics of pulp and paper produced from oil palm oil male flower spikes (OPMFS). OPMFS pulp was prepared according to chemical Soda-AQ pulping process. 60 gsm handsheet of oil palm male flower spikes paper were prepared from OPMFS pulp with four different beating times which are 0 revolution, 1000 revolutions, 2000 revolutions and 3000 revolutions. All physical and mechanical characteristics were investigated according to TAPPI and MS ISO standards. The results show that overall physical and mechanical characteristics of POMFS paper were influenced and enhanced by beating process between 0 until 3000 revolutions. This research demonstrate some potential characteristics of palm oil male flower spikes (OPMFS) paper to be investigated as a newly explored non-wood based raw material for papermaking raw material for papermaking.

Pulp and paper production from wood material as their main resources have a total capacity about more than one million tons per year. Malaysia has a high scale of deforestation based on the main resource for pulp and paper-based industry. Malaysia as its rate is accelerating faster than any other tropical countries in the world. This problem also affects the economic losses of some countries that face deforestation. To overcome this, Napier grass as a substitute material from non-wood material had been choose for pulp and papermaking industry. This study through the full fibre analysis and morphological characterization, pulpability at kappa number via soda-AQ pulping and the characteristic. These conclude that Napier grass had a high percentage of pulp yields; with a low screening rejects; good mechanical properties by TAPPI method. Thus, Napier grass has a potential to be substitute material for becoming waste-wealth product especially for Malaysia’s pulp and papermaking industry.

Abstract. In the past two decades, nocellulose is widely as a renewable source for various industrial applications. Nanocellulose in the form of nanocrystalline (NCC) or nanofibrillated (NFC) has many applications, mainly in enhancing the mechanical strength of composite materials, or as precursors for supercapacitors, aerogel, hydrogel and membrane fabrication processes. In this study, microbial hydrolysis combined with shear mechanical treatment was used as an alternative method to produce nanocellulose. Commercial cellulase enzyme from Trichoderma reesei (ATCC 26921) was used to hydrolyse bleached soda cellulose from Macaranga, a tropical pioneer forest species. The enzymatic hydrolysis was followed by enzyme deactivation, purification, homogenization and sonication. Resulting nanocellose was added at 1%, 2.5%, 5% and 10% loading into 60±3 gsm laboratory handsheets prepared according to TAPPI T205 method. The handsheets were tested for physical, mechanical and optical properties based on TAPPI T220 method. Results, among others, showed that the addition of nanocellulose up to 10% can reduce the air permeability of paper by 50%. This indicates the potential applications in food and pharmaceutical packaging in which degradation due to bacterial activities can be reduced and product shelf life can be prolonged.