Microwave heating was determined in this study to be suitable for the detachment and drying of palm fruits from whole bunches, cut bunches and spikelets. Microwave treatment of the palm fruits was able to attain the objectives of conventional fresh palm fruits sterilization processeses such as fruit softening, nut conditioning and halting of enzymatic lipolysis. Palm oil and kernel oil solvent extracted respectively from the microwave treated whole fruits and kernel were found to have a good quality of low free fatty acid content. This technology, together with the solvent extraction of the dehydrated fruits, may have the potential to be a continuous, dry and clean technology for palm oil milling.
Nanocomposites of Zn/Al-layered double hydroxide(anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate) were synthesized by spontaneous direct assembly of inorganic and organic phases from aqueous solution. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns showed that a pure, single nanocomposite phase of good crystallinity was obtained using 1.0 M antraquinone-2,6-disulfonate ion (AQ26) and aging at 80 degrees C using conventional heating for 7 days or 0.5 h under microwave radiation, and these samples are denoted as ZAAN26C or ZAAN26MH, respectively. Zn/Al-nitrate-layered double hydroxide synthesized by a conventional method (ZANLC) showed a basal spacing of 8.3 A while both the nanocomposites showed 18.8 A as a result of AQ26 intercalation. FTIR study showed that the resulting nanocomposites are free from nitrate, the co-anion present in the mother liquor, indicating that only AQ26 is preferred during intercalation for the formation of the nanocomposite. The Brunauer, Emmet and Teller (BET) and micropore surface areas for ZAAN26C decreased relative to the ZANLC from 16.2 to 4.7 and 1.6 to 1.3 m2/g, respectively. These results indicate that AQ26 can be rapidly interdcalated in layered double hydroxide using microwave-aging resulting in a nanocomposite.