Palm wood as an alternative to existing timbers in the market

SERDANG: Discarded oil palm trunks can now be used as an alternative material to replace existing wood as well as to help reduce logging and to preserve the natural forests in the country.
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) through the Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP) has developed a method to produce high quality compreg oil palm wood efficiently.
"Malaysia has the second largest oil palm plantation in the world with a farm area reaches 5.6 million hectares. We as researchers believe that compreg palm wood has the potential to offer alternatives to other types of timber," Chief researcher Associate Prof Dr Edi Suhaimi Bakar told reporters after officiating the UPM Innovation Open Day and A decade of INTROP celebration.
Also present were the Malaysian Timber Industry Board Director-General Datuk Dr Jalaluddin Harun and INTROP Director Prof Dr Paridah Md Tahir.
Edi said palm wood required an efficient method to increase its strength and durability and a new six-step method was created and it had improved the compreg wood products quality to be comparable to other wood such as cengal.
Meanwhile, Jalaluddin said compreg palm wood needed to be developed and strengthened first in the national market before it could be exported and it could also be used as an alternative to sawn timber, plywood and other available wood in the market.
"We can 'mix and match' such as to include the palm wood in producing plywood so it would be lighter in weight.
"By the year 2034, we are targeting the use of trees from natural forests will be balanced by the usage of trees from plantations such as oil palm and rubber, thus reducing our dependence on natural forest," said Jalaluddin who was formerly INTROP director. — Bernama