Pemanfaatan serat tandan kosong sawit sebagai komponen baju anti peluru
D ari tahun 2009 sampai saat ini, Indonesia tercatat sebagai penghasil komoditi kelapa sawit terbesar di dunia. Dengan total jumlah hasil panen berupa minyak sawit secara keseluruhan tercatat 21,5 juta ton di Indonesia, mengalahkan Malaysia yang menempati posisi kedua kedua di dunia. Kenaikan produksi minyak sawit setiap tahun juga berdampak pada limbah pabrik sawit yang jumlahnya sangat signifikan. Pemanfaatan serat yang berasal dari Tandan Kosong Sawit (TKS) untuk material komposit baju anti peluru merupakan salah satu upaya pemanfaatan limbah industri minyak sawit (CPO) yang berguna untuk meningkatkan nilai ekonomis limbah tersebut, sekaligus untuk mengurangi jumlah limbah yang sangat melimpah. Material komposit yang terbuat dari serat sawit dengan menggunakan perekat nabati dihasilkan melalui proses pres panas pada suhu kisaran 150-200 °C dengan tekanan 7 MT dan durasi pengepresan selama 40 menit per lapis, yang diharapkan dapat menyamai karakteristik kekuatan material keramik dan aramid yang pada saat ini banyak dipakai oleh industri militer sebagai material \"hard plate\" pada baju anti peluru. Serat TKS diperoleh melalui proses penyortiran, pembersihan, penguraian, dan pemilihan. Sedangkan material komposit diperoleh dari proses percampuran, pemadatan, pres panas, dan pelapisan.
S tarting from 2009 up to now, Indonesia risen up as the largest producer of oil palm as well as the biggest oil palm plantation in the world. With the total amount harvested crop recorded 21.5 million tons in 2010, with the ground breaking amount; Indonesia beats Malaysia and became the largest palm oil producer in the world. At the same time, the increasing amount of palm oil production leaves significant amount of waste palm oil that produced by the mill and causing such problematic issues for the environment.Utilization of fibers from oil palm empty fruit bunches to become composite material for bullet-proof vest is one of the efforts to reduce industrial waste from crude palm oil (CPO) mills. Besides, it is useful for increasing the economic value of waste as well as to reduce the abundant amount of waste that has been created. Composite material made of fibers of palm oil plant, bounded by natural adhesive, and produced by hot pressing process in the temperature range of 150-200 °C with constant pressure of 7 metric tons hot pressed for around 40 minutes, and It is expected to have the equal strength per-layer as ceramic and Aramid material which is widely used by the military industry as the \"hard pack\" material in bullet-proof vest. Oil palm fiber (EFB) was obtained through a process of sorting, cleaning, decomposition, and the election. While the composite material obtained from the process of mixing, compaction, heat press, and coating.