Particleboards from Durian Peel and Coconut Coir
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The First Thai-Biomass Utilization Symposium __ _______________________________________________________ Effective Utilization of Forest Biomass for Regional People in Thailand Particleboards from Durian Peel and Coconut Coir Sarocha Charoenvai*, Jongjit Hirunlabh*, and Joseph Khedari* Abstract Manufacturing particleboards from tropical fruit peel particle; durian (Durio zibethinus ) peels and coconut coir ( Cocos nucifera ); with low thermal conductivity is the main purpose of this study. Two main parameters were investigated namely binder types, (UF 12%, PF 6% and IC 3%) and board density. In general, the effect of adhesive type on the properties of boards was not obvious whereas that of the density was more significant on most properties of boards. Experimental investigation indicated that the mechanical properties of all boards increased with increasing board density, but this decrease the dimension stability, expressed by the thickness swelling and the thermal conductivity as well. Keywords: Synthetic Binder; Thermal Conductivity; Modulus of Rupture; Modulus of Elasticity; Agriculture waste ______________________________________________________________ *Building Scientific Research Center, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangmod Rasburana, 91 Pracha U-thit Rd., Thungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand Email address: [email protected] www.kmutt.ac.th/organization/bsrc The First Thai-Biomass Utilization Symposium __ _______________________________________________________ Effective Utilization of Forest Biomass for Regional People in Thailand Introduction Nowadays, due to forest production and environment awareness the use of natural wood is steadily decreasing. Technology is used to manufacture materials from agricultural waste which is considered to substitute natural wood. The productivity of Thai fruit [1] is anticipated to increase in the future and the associated produced waste will lead to social and environmental problems, if we are unable to dispose them. After a series of preliminary tests on thermal conductivity and bulk density of peels of fruits [2], it was found that durian (Durio zibethinus) and young coconut (Cocos nucifera) are the most suitable to be used due to their low thermal conductivity. The objective of this research work is to evaluate the suitability of durian peel and coconut coir as raw materials for particleboard to be used as construction panel with low thermal conductivity for energy conservation of building [3]. That obviously implies the study of some of the relevant parameters thought to be significant in relation to particleboard performance such as board density and adhesive type. Particleboard Manufacturing In this study, three board densities were considered for each products (0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 g/cm 3 for durian and 0.3, 0.5 and 0.6 g/cm 3 for coconut coir) and three types of commercial adhesives were selected: urea formaldehyde (UF), phenol-formaldehyde (PF) and isocyanate (IC). The boards were made with three replicates at each combination, so there are 54 experiment boards. Raw Materials The properties of raw material have an effect in both the processing condition and the properties of end products. It is necessary to know the basic and chemical properties of fruit peel before preparing sample. The results of durian peel chemical analysis performed following TAPPI standard [4] are shown in Table 1. Hemi-cellulose is the difference between holocellulose and α-cellulose. It can be seen that durian peels have a rich hemi-cellulose content. Consequently, wax can be added to composite boards. This would impact the resistance to absorption of liquid water by the final product (particleboard). On the contrary, durian peels contains low lignin ratio. For coconut coir which is the seed-hair fibre obtained form the outer shell (Endocarp) or husk of the coconut. Chemical composition are given in Table2. It contains high lignin ratio (45.84%) that makes fibers stiffer and The First Thai-Biomass Utilization Symposium __ _______________________________________________________ Effective Utilization of Forest Biomass for Regional People in Thailand tougher The stiff and tough fibers are difficult to beat, do not conform and collapse against each other so well. That would like impact manufacturing process and properties. Table 1 Chemical composition of durian peel. Chemical composition Result Standard (%) Ethanol-Benzene solubility 16.65 TAPPI-T204-cm-97 Ethanol-Solubility 2.68 TAPPI-T264-cm-97 Lignin 15.45 TAPPI-T222-om-98 Holocellulose 73.54 Acid Chlorite’s Browing α-cellulose 60.45 TAPPI-T203-cm-88 Hemi-cellulose 13.09 - Ash 4.35 TAPPI-T211-om-93 Table 2 Chemical composition of coconut coir [4]. Chemical composition Unit (%) Water solubles 5.25 Pectin and related compounds 3.00 Hemi-cellulose 0.25 Lignin 45.84 Cellulose 43.44 Ash 2.22 Particle Preparation Based on general methods [5] of particle processing with a serie of preliminary tests, particle preparation was made as follows: the first step was to reduce the raw materials to approximately pulp-chip size (1 × 2 cm 2). The chip-size pieces were oven-dried at 80 °C for 8 hours. Dried durian chips were hammermilled. Coconut coir fibres were cut to about one centimeter. Next fibers were screened to remove excess fines by Sieve Machine over a 60 mesh The First Thai-Biomass Utilization Symposium __ _______________________________________________________ Effective Utilization of Forest Biomass for Regional People in Thailand screen. The particle furnishes were returned to dry before used in making particleboards. Board Preparation The resin solid content of adhesives of particle furnish based on oven- dry weight were: UF 12%, PF 6% and IC 3% [6]. For all types, a paraffin wax emulsion of 1% solid wax based on oven-dry weight of particle furnish should be added. The adhesive was sprayed on particles in a rotating drum blending machine with air-atomization nozzles. The moisture contents of particlemat were controlled at 12%. The blended particles were felted by hand into the final mat with a forming box (300 × 300 mm). All boards made using phenolic resin were pressed to 10 mm stops using a platen temperature of 180 °C. Boards made with urea resin and IC were pressed to 10 mm thickness using a platen temperature of 150 °C. Applying a three step-down method of pressing (25, 15 and 10 kgf /cm 2) was applied for the boards. The total pressing time was 9 minutes. Specimen Preparation and Testing After the hot pressing, [7] all boards were stacked in order to be completely cured for 24 hours and then trimmed and cut into various test specimens. The specimens were conditioned in a conditioning room until they reached equilibrium for at least two weeks at room temperature. After conditioning to equilibrium weight. Standard specimen size and test procedures as outlined in JIS A 5908 (Japanese Standard Association 1994) were used throughout, except for the thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity of the particleboards were measured by using a guarded heat flux method in accordance with BS 874 Part 2 (British Standard). The First Thai-Biomass Utilization Symposium __ _______________________________________________________ Effective Utilization of Forest Biomass for Regional People in Thailand Results and Discussion Tables 3 summarizes all test results. The manufacture durian boards and coconut coir boards are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig.1 Durian borards Top: PF bonded board, Right bottom: UF bonded boardand Left bottom: IC bonded board. Fig.2 Coconut coir boards Top: PF bonded board, Right bottom: UF bonded board and Left bottom: IC bonded board The First Thai-Biomass Utilization Symposium __ _______________________________________________________ Effective Utilization of Forest Biomass for Regional People in Thailand Table 3. Physical and mechanical properties of particleboards form durian peels (D) and coconut coir fibres (C). Boards Binder MC TS WA MOR MOE IB Density Type (%) (%) (%) (kgf/cm 2) (kgf/cm 2) (kgf/cm 2) (g/cm 3) 0.336 11.20 21.980 151.900 - - - UF 0.590 10.43 29.418 106.770 49.878 6993 2.562 (D) 0.860 8.92 30.648 49.853 251.772 37761 18.938 0.360 11.68 14.957 157.139 - - - PF 0.610 10.19 39.928 88.550 81.546 11844 2.793 (D) 0.850 8.04 41.225 57.803 215.572 34116 18.729 0.332 13.39 31.148 189.235 - - - IC 0.570 10.30 87.653 146.175 28.146 4848 2.199 (D) 0.920 9.04 104.273 58.118 124.938 76194 17.901 0.360 6.805 23.995 156.322 - - - UF 0.588 7.313 35.283 131.895 173.874 21337 2.12 (C) 0.648 7.505 53.353 78.800 260.513 29156 12.645 0.380 7.915 17.973 185.598 - - - PF 0.518 7.465 26.438 133.853 160.615 13317 3.723 (C) 0.611 7.395 32.635 77.453 419.592 30094 13.07 0.320 7.398 28.508 62.540 - - - IC 0.545 7.198 26.438 57.283 188.407 16629 1.994 (C) 0.613 7.690 32.303 56.283 202.588 18420 10.669 Effect of board density on moisture content (MC). The moisture content is inversely proportional with the density in the case of durian peel boards. The lower density yields higher porosity, spaces and voids. Consequently the moisture content increases when the porosity increases as durian fibres and parenchyma can absorb more moisture. It was also observed that the effect of density of coconut coir boards is not regular on moisture content as noticed in Table 3. For instance, in case of UF coconut coir boards made with high resin content (12%), high density boards have high weight and resin content as well. After blending, the amount of moisture and its distribution through the high density boards is higher than that of low density boards. Consequently, high density UF boards get more moisture content than final low density boards.