Rigid Plastic-Free Fibreboards Made from "Hairy" Cellulose Fibres and Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch

Empty fruit bunch (EFB), an abundant lignocellulosic residue from the palm oil milling process, is typically discarded on open land or used as mulch. In this work, a simple method that mimics a papermaking process, was developed to upcycle EFB into higher value fibreboard without the need for any polymeric binders. The cellulose network from pulp fibres was utilised to hold the otherwise loose EFB fibres together to produce a rigid EFB fibreboard. Mechanical refinement was performed using a re-circulating colloid mill to improve the binding performance of the cellulose fibres . EFB fibreboard containing 30 wt.% of 30 min refined "hairy" cellulose fibres possessed a flexural modulus of ~2.9 GPa and strength of ~22 MPa, comparable to commercial particleboard (PB) and medium density fibreboard (MDF). A lifecycle analysis (LCA) model using ReCiPe 2016 method and Ecoinvent database was used to compare the environmental impact of the EFB fibreboard and MDF production. The results show that the EFB fibreboard possessed a lower environmental impact on global warming potential and the various end-point impact categories compared to MDF. This work unveils new opportunities to convert palm oil waste into all-lignocellulosic fibreboard, moving away from traditional practices which align with the concept of a circular bioeconomy.