The waste oil
palm residue extracted from the pure oil palm represents 12
percent of the oil palm bunch and can be used for other purposes,
such as fiber production or fuel.
There are many other kinds
of palms, such as Date and Raphia, but only the oil palmis important
to the Thai economy because there has been continuous domestic
growth. The characteristics of oil palm fiber waste have
20–100mm in length, 0.2–0.8mm in diameter, and 1300–
1450 kg/m3 in density. Moreover, it has similar mechanical properties
to coconut coir fiber because the cell wall of fiber is relatively
thick and so less susceptible to chemical reactions [16]. As a result,
itmust first be washed, boiled, and chemically treated before mixing
it with other materials.