Journal of Korea TAPPI

Vol. 48. No. 6, 2016, 25-31p

ISSN (Print): 0253-3200
Printed in Korea http://dx.doi.org/10.7584/JKTAPPI.2016.12.48.6.25

Empty Fruit Bunches for Pulp and Paper Production:

The Current State in Indonesia

Hendro Risdianto, Teddy Kardiansyah and Andoyo Sugiharto†

Received November 10, 2016; Received in revised form December 4, 2016; Accepted December 5, 2016

ABSTRACT
Recent years, there is an increased rate of non-wood fibers for pulp and paper industry.
The non-wood fibers usually used for papermaking because of their fine paper making
qualities, and in some countries the non-wood fibers are used to overcome the shortage
of wood fibers. In Indonesia, one of the abundant sources of non-wood for pulp and pa-
permaking is Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) that come from the palm oil mills. EFB are the
major biomass byproduct and they are the fibrous residue remaining after the palm
fruits are separated in the mills. Characteristics of EFB as raw material for pulp and
paper can be predicted from the properties of the fiber morphology and chemical compo-
sition. Furthermore, this paper will focus on the conversion of biomass waste of EFB
into the pulp and paper products.

Keywords: Biomass, empty fruit bunches, non-wood, pulp, paper

1. Introduction Bunches (EFB). EFB is the major biomass byprod-

Due to the shortages in wood supplies, several
countries in the world are expected to focus their
attention on the development of alternative fiber
sources such as bagasse, kenaf, ramie, empty fruit
1-4)
bunches, bamboo, and wheat straw. It was re-
ported that non-wood pulp production was about
11.45 million metric tonnes in 2014 and increased to
be around 14.48 million metric tonnnes in 2015.5) In
Indonesia, one of the abundant sources of non-
wood for pulp and papermaking is Empty Fruit
uct, which is the fibrous material from stalk and
spikelets of the fruit bunch after removal of fruits.6)
Oil palm cultivation in Indonesia has been going
on for more than ten decades. Very suitable soil
conditions in some parts of Indonesia has made
palm oil as a commodity nationwide.7) Palm empty
fruit bunches can be an alternative source of raw
materials of non-wood fiber for pulp and paper.
This is related in an effort to preserve the Indone-
sian forests. The use of non-wood raw material is a
way that can be taken to produce pulp and paper. In

• Center for Pulp and Paper, Agency for Research and Development of Industry, Ministry of Industry, Jl. Raya Dayeuhkolot
132, Bandung 40258, Indonesia
† Corresponding Author: E-mail: andoyos@yahoo.com

J. of Korea TAPPI Vol.48 No.6 Dec. 2016 25

 Empty Fruit Bunches for Pulp and Paper Production: The Current State in Indonesia
addition, the increasing use of paper that will be
directly proportional to the import of waste paper,
while the recycling rate of used paper in Indonesia
is still quite low. EFB is continuously available with
the development of the palm oil industry, which
grew rapidly during the past two decades, can be
made into a pulp with a high enough strength as a
raw material to produce paper stationery, cement
bags and printed paper. Thus, the utilization of EFB
as raw material for pulp and paper will provide
added value for the palm oil industry. EFB can be
also used for more profitable and high economic
value, for example in the chemical industry, paper,
8)
composites and biofuels. This paper gives an over-
view of the chemical characteristics and properties
of fibers from oil palm empty fruit bunches associ-
ated with the properties of pulp and paper making.
2. The potential and availability
of EFB
Palm oil is one of the Indonesia’s main commod-
Fig. 1. A
 rea of palm oil and CPO production in Indonesia (Source: Directorate General of Estate
Crops, 201413)).
26 펄프·종이기술 48(6) 2016
ities which plays a vital role in Indonesia’s econo-
my. The Indonesian government has named the
palm oil industry as one of the industrial pillars
published in the Industry Structure 2025. Pres-
ently, Indonesia is one of the leading crude palm
oil (CPO) producers in the world. In 2015, world
was producing total of about 54 million tons of
palm oil, and Indonesia contributed 31.1 million
tons.9) CPO in Indonesia mainly is used for food
(edible oil) and only about 20% for non-food. The
increasing of CPO production goes hand in hand
with the area of plantations (Fig. 1) and then the
waste generated from palm oil mills.
The development of oil palm plantations has
grown very rapidly, so that the addition will in-
crease the production of palm oil, palm oil indus-
try will also increase the production of solid waste
EFB produced from palm oil mills. The develop-
ment of oil palm plantation is always accompanied
by a mill so that is what distinguishes from other
agricultural commodities. This is due to the oil
palm susceptible to chemical and physical changes
during oil in bunches and processing time. There-
 Hendro Risdianto·Teddy Kardiansyah·Andoyo Sugiharto

fore, the development of oil palm is not accompa-
nied by the development of the plant would be a
futile effort. We have already recorded 713 units of
palm oil mill with a capacity of 30, 45 and 60 tons
fresh fruit/hour spread in Indonesia.10)
The potential of Indonesian palm oil industry has
increased through the expansion of land reached
an average of 250,000 hectares per year, bringing
the total area of 10 million hectares.11) Every ton of
CPO produced would generate about 1.1 tons of
EFB. Currently, EFB are often incinerated at the
plant site, which causes some air pollution.12) This
pollution will need to be curbed in compliance with
environmental regulations. The only beneficial
current use of EFB is the fertilizer value of the
ashes. At a few places, the EFB are chopped up
and spread on estate grounds without incinera-
tion. To increase the added value for EFB, it has a
high potential for pulp and paper products.
400 g EFB fibers per fruit bunches.8) EFB fibers
include short fibers to moderate, i.e., between 1-2
mm in diameter while including a group of small
to medium diameter (2 to 2.5 μm).11) In general,
physical and morphological properties of EFB fi-
bers shown in Table 1.
The chemical compositions of EFB fibers are
mostly composed of lignin, cellulose and hemicel-
lulose. The cellulose content of EFB fiber is around
of 41.1%, hemicellulose (14.6%-29.4%), lignin
(22.7%-31.7%), and extractives (1.34%-3.30%).14,15)
The content of cellulose almost equal to the cellu-
lose content of wood fiber (38%-49%), bamboo
(26%-43%) and bagasse (32%-44%).16) Hence, the
EFB fibers have the potential to be used as raw
material for pulp and paper. The chemical compo-
nents of the EFB can be seen in Table 2. EFB
chemical compositions when compared with other
sources of raw materials can be seen in Table 3.

3. Characteristics of EFB 4. EFB utilization as pulp raw

materials
EFB fiber morphology is influenced by genetic
properties of a plant. The average weight of about Pulp of EFB can be produced through the process

Table 1. Morphological properties of EFB fibers

Parameter The end part of the EFB stem14,17) EFB fiber tip (malai)14,17) EFB fibers18) EFB fibers1)
Fiber length, mm
- Minimum 0.63 0.46 0.27 -
- Maximum 1.81 1.27 1.48 -
- Average (L) 1.20 0.76 0.53 0.99
Fiber diameter (D), µm 16.89 14.34 14.00 19.10
Lumen diameter (l), µm 8.04 6.99 - -
Wall thickness (w), µm 3.49 3.68 - 3.38
Runkel ratio (2w/l) 0.87 1.05 - -
Felting ratio (L/D) 79.95 53.00 - -
Flexibility (l/D) 0.54 0.49 - -
Fibers content (%) 72.67 62.47 - -
Nonfibers content (%) 27.33 37.53 - -
Bulk density, kg/m3 177.98 - - -

J. of Korea TAPPI Vol.48 No.6 Dec. 2016 27

 Empty Fruit Bunches for Pulp and Paper Production: The Current State in Indonesia

Table 2. Chemical compositions of EFB

Value
Parameter
Herawan and Rivani (2013)10) Erwinsyah et al. (2012)14) Law and Jiang (2001)1)
Extractives (%) 7.78 5.22 2.83
Ash (%) 6.23 2.00 3.81
α Cellulose (%) 37.50 41.09 -
Hemicellulose (%) 28.57 - -
Holocellulose (%) - 69.33 86.30
Pentosan (%) 26.69 29.37 -
Solubility in 1% NaOH 29.96 24.69 29.90
Solution (%)

Table 3. Chemical compositions of EFB and other sources of raw materials

Value (%)
Sources
α Cellulose Lignin Pentosan Ash Remarks
EFB strand 37.50 - 26.69 6.23 Herawan and Rivani, 201310)
EFB strand 41.09 - 29.37 2 Erwinsyah et al., 201214)
Bamboo 26-43 21-31 15-26 1.7-5 Pahkala, 200116)
Bagasse 32-44 19-24 27-32 1.5-5 Pahkala, 200116)
Hardwood 38-49 23-30 19-26 1 Pahkala, 200116)
Softwood 40-45 26-34 7-14 1 Pahkala, 200116)

of semi-chemical pulping by the process of soda 5. Potential of EFB for paper

or sulfate. In addition, before the pulp cooking
process can also be applied lipase in pre-treat-
ment to reduce the incidence of pitch (stain) on
the paper produced. It depends on the final target
to be achieved.11) The process of making pulp from
EFB has been investigated by various methods,
which is soda19,20), soda anthraquinone20-23), alka-
line peroxide24-26), acetosolv27), prehydrolysis soda-
AQ28) and chemical mechanical.11) In addition to the
process of pulping, pulp bleaching process of EFB
has been done by various methods including bio-
bleaching with laccase and xylanase21), totally
20)
chlorine free. The results of these studies indi-
cate that the EFB can produce good sheet proper-
ties and is very useful for papermaking.29) EFB
pulp with soda process had produced an industrial
scale in Malaysia and is claimed to be suitable for
printing and writing paper, corrugated cartons
and other paper products.29)
production
Paper of EFB had been demonstrated in a pilot
machine of 500 mm width and speed of 10 m/min.
In their study, EFB was mixed with OCC pulp and
no chemical additive was used for paper manufac-
turing.30) Gonzalo et al.30) revealed that clean EFB
alone (100%) could be used for papermaking, and
for the parameter of tensile breaking stress and
tear index has a similar value to those obtained
for the mixture with commercial OCC (75%).
A laboratory research on utilization of EFB for
raw material of paper also was performed by Er-
winsyah et al.14) The process of CTMP and APMP
were used to make mechanical pulp from empty
fruit bunches of palm oil (EFBPO). These pulps
then used for kraft liner making with the EFBPO
- OCC mixing ratio of 50-50 and 75-25, and cor-
rugating medium of 100% EFBPO. The best kraft

28 펄프·종이기술 48(6) 2016

 Hendro Risdianto·Teddy Kardiansyah·Andoyo Sugiharto

liner is obtained from CTMP - OCC with 75-25
mixing ratio, and corrugating medium from CTMP
100%. Both results meet the requirements of In-
donesia National Standard for liner and medium
paper of Class B.14)
A higher scale of paper from EFB had been con-
ducted by Rushdan et al.6) A blending stock con-
taining EFB soda pulp (6-50%) and OCC paper
was investigated on some parameters for medium
paper as shown in Table 4. EFB soda pulp in the
furnish improved some parameters, i.e., burst,
corrugated medium test, ring crush, tensile index,
and folding endurance. However, the EFB has a
negative effect on the thickness, bulk, and tear
index. This phenomena occured due to the prop-
erties of EFB pulp fiber that more flexible than
OCC, therefore the paper would decrease in thick-
ness and bulk. The flexibility of EFB fiber enhance
the properties of burst, corrugated medium test,
ring crush, tensile index and folding endurance
caused by the increasing of fiber bonding. From
Table 4, it shows that medium paper from mixture
of EFB and OCC has similar properties to pulp
from commercial hardwood namely A. mangium
and E. globulus.6)
Pulp from EFB is suitable for raw material of
kraft liner and corrugating medium.14) A blending
of EFB pulp with recycled pulp from old corrugated
container (OCC) could be used for medium paper.
The properties of EFB pulp is closed to the com-
mercial hardwood pulp of Acacia mangium and
Eucalyptus globulus.6) A study of commercial scale
of corrugated board production has been conducted
in Indonesia. It is shown that EFB pulp has high
potential to produce pulp and paper, so the EFB
could substitute pulpwood due to its properties
similar to commercial hardwood pulp.11) A large
scale paper from EFB pulp was performed by coop-
eration between Indonesian Oil Palm Research In-
stitute (IOPRI) and Center for Pulp and Paper (CPP)
since 2011 to produce medium paper, liner paper,
corrugated carton box. In 2013, a laboratory result

Table 4. Characteristics of medium paper from EFB soda pulp

Stock Mixture EFB and OCC 100% A. mangium 100% E. globulus
EFB pulp (%) 6-50 0 0
OCC (%) 50-94 0 0
Thickness (mm) 0.18-0.24 0.20 0.26
Grammage (g/m2) 112.90-124.62 113.28 137.82
Bulk (cm3g-1) 1.49-1.93 1.79 1.92
Burst index (kPam2g-1) 1.25-2.54 1.24 1.71
Corrugated medium test (kNm-1) 1.0-1.6 n.a n.a
Ring crush (kNm )-1 1.2-1.5 n.a n.a
Tensile index (Nmg-1)
CD 13-23 39 34
MD 35-61 88 57
Tear index (mNm2g-1)
CD 7.15-9.49 8.53 7.88
MD 6.15-8.50 1.03 6.36
Folding endurance No.
CD 12-45 n.a n.a
MD 40-312 n.a n.a

Source: Rushdan et al. (2007)6)

J. of Korea TAPPI Vol.48 No.6 Dec. 2016 29

 Empty Fruit Bunches for Pulp and Paper Production: The Current State in Indonesia
was up scaled to the mill scale in one of the pulp
and paper mill near Bandung City. A 8.6 ton of EFB
was converted into pulp and then corrugated carton
box, and resulted about 1,250 pieces of corrugated
carton box. The corrugated carton box would be
11)
used as oil palm seed packaging in IOPRI.
6. Conclusions
Indonesia has a large amount of non-wood
source of EFB. The continuous availability of EFB
provides opportunities as an alternative raw ma-
terial manufacture of pulp and paper as well as
being relevant solutions to overcome the limita-
tions of non-wood fiber sources. EFB is expected
to be commercialized into products of pulp and
paper in Indonesia. The EFB could substitute the
pulp from commercial hardwood. Due to the short
fibers of EFB, so it should be blended with OCC to
produce a suitable paper products such as medium
paper, kraft liner paper, and corrugated board box.
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