Journal of Building Engineering 29 (2020) 101151 Available online 24 December 2019 2352-7102/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Properties of native and blended oil palm starch with nano-silicon dioxide as binder for particleboard Norani Abd Karim a, b , Junidah Lamaming a , Madihan Yusof a , Rokiah Hashim a, * , Othman Sulaiman a , Salim Hiziroglu c , Wan Noor Aidawati Wan Nadhari d , Kushairi Mohd Salleh a , Owolabi Folahan Taiwo a, e a Division of Bioresource, Paper and Coatings Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia b Polytechnic Kota Kinabalu, No 4,Jalan Politeknik, KKIP Barat, Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park, 88460, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia c Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078-6013, USA d Department of Technical Foundation, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Institute of Chemical & Bioengineering Technology, Lot 1988, Kawasan Perindustrian Bandar Vendor, Taboh Naning, 78000, Alor Gajah, Melaka, Malaysia e Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi Lagos, Nigeria A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Starch Blended oil palm starch Bio-adhesive Polyvinyl alcohol Silicon dioxide ABSTRACT The replacement of the synthetic binder like urea formaldehyde and other suitable binder with natural adhesive like starch is very challenging to meet acceptable properties. This study evaluates the physicochemical and properties of both native starch and blended oil palm starch from the mixture of polyvinyl alcohol, boric acid and nano silicon dioxide. The result shows higher crystalline index and enthalpy peak of differentiate scanning calorimetry from blended oil palm starch bonded particleboard in comparison with those bonded with native starch. Morphological changes of native starch after blending process were observed from the scanning electron micrograph. Improvement were seen in both the dimensional stability and internal bond strength. The study shows that blended oil palm starch would be a potential candidate as a green binder in particleboard production. 1. Introduction The growth of oil palm plantations as an industrial crop in Malaysia has increased exponentially [1] generating 13.97 million metric tons of oil palm trunk (OPT) every year [2,3]. The oil palm trees of the age of 25 years or above are no longer considered as economical and less suitable for cultivation [4]. Therefore, the uneconomical oil palm trees are cut down and being replaced by the new trees plantation. The felled oil palm trees normally left on harvesting site and not being utilized for any valuable products [1,5]. Several researches have been reported on the proposed utilization of abandoned OPT by converting it into other valuable products [6,7]. The oil palm biomass contains a substantial amount of starch in the whole plant but more specifcally in the trunk part [8,9]. Native starch is the mixture of glucose units of amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is a small polymer and is an α-1,4-linked glucose units with sometimes the long chains attached with α-1,6 branches (<1% branching) whilst the amylopectin is composed of an α-1,4-linked, α-1,6-branched (4–6% branching) polymer [10]. According to Jarowenko (1977) [11], it is being used in various products including binders, sizing materials, and pastes [12]. The oil palm starch (OPS) as a binder has a promising future to be seeen as a green binder for particleboard manufacturing. The use of oil palm starch (OPS) as a binder for wood composite is still new and has been explored by various researchers [1,13,14]. It has been reported that the use of native OPS and modifed OPS [1,12] in particleboard manufacturing as binder exhibited a good mechanical property and met the requirement of selected standard. In other work [13], the use of OPS as binder was compared with wheat starch and the fndings showed that particleboard with OPS have better properties than those with wheat starch. However, it seems that starch based adhesives have some dis- advantages such as poor water resistant, mobility and bonding strength [15]. Characterization and analysis of physicochemical properties of starch are important parameters to be studied so that it could be used for * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: norani_abd_karim@yahoo.com.my (N. Abd Karim), junejunidah@gmail.com (J. Lamaming), madihan.yusof@gmail.com (M. Yusof), hrokiah@ usm.my, hrokiah1@gmail.com (R. Hashim), othman@usm.my (O. Sulaiman), salim.hiziroglu@okstate.edu (S. Hiziroglu), wan.noor.aidawati@unikl.edu.my (W.N.A. Wan Nadhari), mikail_hairy@yahoo.com (K.M. Salleh), fathok2375@gmail.com (O.F. Taiwo). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Building Engineering journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jobe https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2019.101151 Received 22 January 2019; Received in revised form 21 November 2019; Accepted 23 December 2019