Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Japan and the University of Tokyo, Japan had been doing collaborative research since 2006. The main focus of the research was on the production of BINDERLESS BOARD and COMPRESSED PANELS from old oil palm trunk.

Extensive researches were done through our collaboration in order to exploit and capitalize this raw material for usable products.

Numerous publications had been published regarding this and can be easily referred to in available journal accordingly.  In this workshop we would like to focus on two products that have highly commercial potential and can be readily produced with probably some modification of existing plant.

Binderless board is a wood panel made without the use of synthetic adhesive. It is prepared by hot pressing of wood particles that involves a self-bonding process. Compressed panel is a process of increasing the density of the product. By doing this the cell structure will be modified physically and will increase the mechanical properties.

In this workshop, the technology involved in the production of binderless and compressed panel will be explained and demonstrated.

08:45 – 09:00  Registration

09:00 – 09:05  Welcome Remarks (Prof. Azhar Mat Easa, Dean, School of Industrial Technology, USM)

09:05 – 09:15  Welcome Remarks (Dr. Iwao Noda, Director of Forestry Div., JIRCAS)

09:15 – 09:45  Current status of Timber Industries in Malaysia – oil palm biomass as a resource (Malaysia Timber Industry Board)

09:45 – 10:00  Photo Session & Tea Break

10:00 – 10:45  Lignocellulosic biomass as potential raw material for wood composite manufacture (Prof. Masatoshi Sato, The University of Tokyo)

10:45 – 11:15  Binderless particleboard and Compressed panels from Oil Palm Trunk (Prof. Rokiah Hashim,  School of Industrial Technology, USM)

11:15 – 11:45  Proposal of the follow-up study on  the collaborative research project (Prof. Othman Sulaiman, School of Industrial Technology, USM)

11:45 – 13:00  Laboratory Demonstration of making binderless board

13:00 – 14:00  Lunch and break

14:00 – 15:00  Discussion and Feedback

15:00 – 15:15  Closing remark (Dr. Iwao Noda, Director of Forestry Div., JIRCAS)