A review of oil palm biocomposites for furniture design and applications: Potential and challenges

Abstract

This review considers the potential and challenges of using agro-based oil palm biomasses, including the trunk, frond, empty fruit bunch, and palm press fiber biocomposites, for furniture applications. Currently, design and quality rather than price are becoming the primary concern for consumers when buying new furniture. Within this context, this paper focuses on the design of innovative, sustainable furniture from agro-based biocomposites to meet the needs of future population growth and technology. This research also discusses the need for biocomposite materials that do not depend on the growth of populations, but on the growth and development of the economy. This study focuses on globally available agro-based biocomposites, especially those from oil palm biomass: plywood, medium density fiberboard (MDF), wood plastic composite (WPC), laminated veneer lumber (LVL), oriented strand board (OSB), hardboards, and particleboard. Additional positive aspects of biocomposites are their environmentally friendly character, high quality, competitive design, and capacity to improve the value proposition of high-end products. These attributes increase the demand for agro-based biocomposite furniture on the international market.

Designing Environmentally Sustainable Furniture Products: Furniture-Specific Life Cycle Design Guidelines and a Toolkit to Promote Environmental Performance

“…While the fields of environmentally sustainable product design are extensively studied, their application in the furniture industry is still scarce. According to findings from the literature review, the furniture industry is currently focusing on the first level of innovation, i.e., the single-indicator innovation, selecting resources with lower environmental impacts [21][22][23][24][25], such as materials choice [26][27][28][29][30][31][32], packaging volume or materials content reduction [33,34], labels, certification standards [35], waste management [36], component choice [21], and materials innovation [37], which are insufficient. These design principles are fundamental in the context of furniture, and they remain a central focus in contemporary furniture design practices.…”