Nursyifa Syuhada Binti Azlie Sham,		 						 	,	, <br/><br/>
Influence of drying operating conditions on oil palm biomass and its protein evaluation for ruminant feed / 
Nursyifa Syuhada Binti Azlie Sham 
 - xv, 46 pages :  illustrations ; 
<br/><br/> Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering Technology 
<br/><br/>Final Year Report (Bachelor of Chemical Engineering ) -- Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah - 2025 
<br/><br/>Include bibliographical reference 
<br/><br/> Oil palm biomass waste such as Oil Palm Fronds (OPF) and Palm Kernel Cake (PKC), is known to have high nutritional value that can be used as feed sources for ruminant animals. These materials must be dried to reduce moisture content for longer storage before being used as ruminant feed. One of the drying techniques is to dry using a dehydrator, but information regarding the drying operating conditions on these biomasses is still lacking. This research aimed to investigate the influence of dehydrator operating conditions on the drying characteristics of OPF and PKC and to evaluate its protein content for ruminant feed. The experiments were performed on samples of OPF and PKC at varying temperatures (40°C to 90°C), times (60 to 120 minutes), and tray levels (1 to 12). The effect of temperature, time, and tray level on final moisture content was analyzed. The results showed that the maximum moisture removal occurred at 90°C and 120 minutes, whereas tray level 6 had the lowest moisture content, at 14.1% for OPF and 1.0% for PKC. The Bradford Assay method was then conducted to estimate the protein content of OPF and PKC, along with microbial activity to observe the bacteria growth. Consequently, the protein content measured for OPF and PKC was found at 3.61% and 10.63% respectively. In conclusion, higher drying temperatures and the setup of fan ventilation significantly impact airflow distribution at tray levels, thereby influencing the rate of moisture loss. Lower moisture content is important for extended storage and to prevent bacterial growth. Additionally, OPF and PKC were proven to contain high protein content making them suitable feed sources for ruminant animals. 
<br/><br/><label>ISBN: </label>THE0010704 (Local) 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Corporate Names: </label><br/>Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering Technology--Dissertations
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>Universities and colleges--Dissertations<br/>Theses--Dissertations