Abstract—Oil palm fronds is an agricultural waste derives from the harvesting of oil palm fruit bunches, rich in fiber and cellulosic compound. This work reported the utilization of oil palm fronds for synthesis carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The optimization of reaction conditions was studied by using response surface methodology (RSM). The design experiment is central composite design consists of 2 factors (% NaOH in mercerization process and weight of monochloroacetic acid in etherification process) with 5 levels. It was found that at optimum condition: 52 % NaOH and 10.7 g of MCA, at reaction temperature of 50 with 3 h of reaction time, given the highest yield of 170.1 % CMC. Synthesized oil palm fronds CMC obtained at this condition was characterized, which has DS of 1.1, purity 97.3 %, viscosity of 1% w/v CMC solution was 685 cP. This synthesized oil palm fronds CMC could be categorized as technical grade CMC. Index Terms— optimization, response surface methodology. I. INTRODUCTION Oil palm fronds are a by-product of the cultivation of oil palm trees. The rapid development of the palm oil industry since the 1990s, notably in South-East Asia (Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia), has caused an increasing output of fibrous wastes derived from the harvesting of oil palm fruit bunches. It can be estimated that 164 million ton Dry Mass of oil palm fronds are produced every year in the world. Oil palm fronds are a low-protein, contain high amounts of fiber in neutral detergent fiber, NDF and acid detergent fiber, ADF. The content are in the 63-80 % range and 45-57 % range respectively. Therefore oil palm fronds could be a good source for production of cellulose derivatives. Cellulose is a simple linear polymer consisting of anhydroglucopyranose unit (AGU) linked together with β-(1,4) -glycosidic bonds formed between carbon 1 and carbon 4 of adjacent glucose. Each of the AGU units consists of three hydroxyl groups at carbon 2, 3 and 6 positions. Cellulose is aligned parallel to each other in fibrils, which are surrounded by a matrix of lignin and hemicellulose. In addition, cellulose has properties such as low density, good mechanical properties as well as bio degradability [1], [2]. Carboxymethyl cellulose, CMC is a linear, long chain, water soluble, anionic polysaccharide derived from cellulose. The preparation of CMC involves two reaction steps, which are alkalization and etherification process. In the alkalization process, the cellulose is treated with NaOH, often in the presence of inert solvent (ethanol or isopropanol), Manuscript received May 15, 2014; revised July 9, 2014. Penpun Tasaso is with the Department of Chemical Engineering, Mahidol University Nakornpathom 73170 Thailand (e-mail: penpun.tas@ mahidol.ac.th). which acts both as a swelling agent and as a dilutant which facilitates good penetration to the crystalline structure of cellulose. It solvates the hydroxyl groups and thus makes them available for etherification reaction. The alkalization process is generally performed at room temperature. In etherification step the alkali cellulose is reacted with monochloroacetate acid (NaMCA), or as free acid, monochloroacetic acid (MCA) to form carboxymethyl cellulose ethers. At the same time NaOH reacts with MCA to form two by-products, which are sodium glycolate and sodium chloride. The reaction in alkalization, etherification and side reaction process are as shown in equation (1), (2) and (3) respectively [ () ] [ ] (1) [ () ] [ ] (2) (3) CMC is currently many applications in industry such as enhanced the physical property of paper, as drilling mud in oil industry, as a dye thickening in textile industry. In form of purified CMC, it was used in food, pharmaceutical, detergent and cosmetic industries [3], [4]. Therefore the purpose of this study was to synthesis CMC from oil palm fronds, which is the abundant of waste in the south region of Thailand, and the optimization of reaction conditions was also investigated. II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The materials used in this research are oil palm fronds obtained from Surath thani province, Thailand. All chemicals used were AR grade. A. Extraction of Cellulose Oil palm fronds was rinsed with water and sun-dried for 4 days. It was cut in to small pieces then dried at 70 in oven dryer. The dried product was ground into powder with disc mill to pass through a 42 mesh sieve. The 50 g of oil palm fronds powder was cooked in 1 litre of 10% NaOH at 130 under pressure 190 kPa for 60 minutes. The obtained black slurry was filtered and washed solid residue with distilled water. The residue was dried at 70 to constant weight for 24 h, and oil palm fronds cellulose was obtained. The cellulose was bleached with 30% H 2 O 2 at 70 for 3 h. The bleached cellulose was washed again using distilled water and filtered then dried the bleached cellulose at 70 . The bleached cellulose was ground with blender into powder then ptimiztio of Rectio oditios for Sythesis of rboxymethy euose from i Pm Frods Penpun Tasaso International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications, Vol. 6, No. 2, April 2015 101 DOI: 10.7763/IJCEA.2015.V6.460 Carboxymethyl cellulose, oil palm fronds,