Isolation of Starch from Oil Palm Trunks

Oil palm trunks were harvested and divided in three sections to represent top, middle and bottom part of the trunk. The trunks were processed in a plywood factory within 24 hours of felling. The inner cores, which remained after removal of the outer layer for veneer production, were chipped and immediately frozen. Fresh samples showed starch granules with sizes between 5 and 15 μm, which is in agreement with earlier reports on palm starch from different palm tree species. The presence of native starch in the samples prepared by cryogenic milling was confirmed by the Maltese crosses after examination with polarized light. The concentration of starch showed a gradient over the oil palm trunk with 42-59% at the top decreasing to less than 10% at the bottom. The concentration of (hemi)cellulose was the reverse. As free sugars were virtually absent, starch hydrolysis seemed to be successfully prevented by this method.