Article Oil palm microfiber-reinforced handsheet-molded thermoplastic green composites for sustainable packaging applications D Hermawan 1 , Che Mohamad Hazwan 2 , FAT Owolabi 2 , Deepu A Gopakumar 2 , M Hasan 3 , Samsul Rizal 4 , NA Sri Aprilla 5 , AR Mohamed 6 and HPS Abdul Khalil 2 Abstract The forestry and agricultural market have been perceiving outstanding growth due to the advantages of green composites, such as cost effective in nature, environment friendly, excellent mechanical prop- erties, and so on. Various researchers had studied the reinforcement efficiency of various natural fibers in the diverse polymer matrices. Herein, we reported the characterization of microfiber handsheet- molded thermoplastic green composites developed from the combination of oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB)-based microfiber pulp as filler and polyester PP based as matrix. Refined alkaline extracted OPEFB pulp fiber was mixed at different layered composition of the composite of grafted polypropylene. The physical properties and mechanical properties were conducted according to the ASTM standard and showed substantial improvement of the handsheet-molded composite. The scanning electron microgram showed that, as the addition of OPEFB fiber loading increased, there was improved interfacial bonding except for 50% fiber loading which experience fiber pullout. The result also showed improved thermal stability compared with the neat composite. This study will be an effective platform to develop the packaging materials using polymer handsheet composite. 1 Department of Forestry, Kampus IPB, Darmaga, Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia 2 School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia 3 Chemical Education Department, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Jln. Tgk. Daud Beureueh Darussalam, Banda Aceh, Indonesia 4 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia 5 Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia 6 Linton University College, Bandar Universiti Teknologi Legenda (BUTL), Mantin, Malaysia Corresponding author: HPS Abdul Khalil, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia. Email: akhalilhps@gmail.com Progress in Rubber Plastics and Recycling Technology 1–15 ª The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1477760619861984 journals.sagepub.com/home/prp