Abstract

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Chemical modifications of oil palm fibres (empty fruit bunch and palm kernel fibres) and coir fibres were studied using mercerization, alkaline bleaching and acetylation methods of fibre surface modification. The effect of these surface modifications on the weight and chemical composition of these fibres was investigated. Acetylation process led to 1.34 – 3.46% weight percentage gain (WPG) in the chemically modified fibres, while mercerization and alkaline bleached modified fibres are having 3.52 – 4.21% and 4.30 – 9.52% weight percentage loss (WPL) respectively. Comparative evaluation of the chemical compositions of chemically modified and unmodified fibres showed increase in cellulose from 3.29 – 8.31%, 6.60 – 14.97% and 3.36 – 5.76% in mercerized, alkaline bleached and acetylated fibres respectively. Hemicellulose content increased from 11.47 – 14.89% only in acetylation process, while lignin and pectin content decreased in all modification methods. These chemical modifications were confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopic and SEM methods of chemical analysis carried out on both chemically modified and unmodified fibres.

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