The utilization of oil palm fronds in producing oxalic acid through oxidation

As one of the solid waste generated by palm oil plantations, Oil Palm Fronds have the potential to be further processed into useful products since the presence of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Hence, the objective of this study was to utilize oil palm fronds in producing oxalic acid through oxidation process using. To achieve the objective, this study assessed conversion of cellulose, yield and quality of oxalic acid produced. Two stages are carried out, namely oxidation and crystallization. Assays on raw materials revealed the cellulose content of 29.2 percent. The largest yield of oxalic acid was 43.31 percent, the highest conversion of cellulose was 58.86 percent. FTIR and melting point analysis were employed in this study. These analyses indicated that the functional groups have reached the standard of oxalic acid with a melting point of 102.1 °C, which showed that the oxalic acid obtained was oxalic acid dehydrate.