Effects of Liquefaction Temperature and Time on Characterization of Liquefied Oil Palm Trunk Residue in the Presence of Polyhydric Alcohols

Resides derived from liquefaction of oil palm trunk in the presence of polyhydric alcohol with different liquefaction temperature and time were characterized to provide a new approach to understand some fundamental aspects of the liquefaction reaction. Higher temperature and longer reaction time resulted in lower residue content, indicating more decomposition of components of oil palm trunk. The amorphous polymer comprised of lignin, hemicellulose, starch, and cellulose with non-crystalline structure are firstly degraded at low liquefaction temperature, followed by the decomposition of crystalline region of cellulose. Although it was relatively difficult to destroy the ordered structure of cellulose, most of them could be liquefied via prolonging reaction time or enhancing reaction temperature. Nevertheless, it was found that re-condensation of liquefied products occurred during the liquefaction process when higher temperature of 180 oC was used after 60 min, leading to the gradual increase of residue content with increase of reaction time.