The Particleboard Manufacturing from Agricultural Waste

Abstract

Thailand is an important agricultural country in the world. There is a lot of agricultural waste but a little is used efficiently. Most of it is often dumped or destroyed by burning. The burning of agricultural residues causes carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas, which leads to global warming, the environmental problem of the world today. One approach to reduce agricultural residues and add value to them is to produce a wood-substitute composite like particleboards. Particleboard is a product developed to replace natural wood by mixing agricultural waste containing wood or fiber such as rice straw, rice husk, bagasse, corncob, etc. with adhesives, waterproof adhesives or other materials. It is then hot pressed and tested to determine physical and mechanical properties according to the industrial standard. Hot compression makes particleboard a good quality. Other factors are considered: temperature compression, types and shape of wood, moisture level and distribution of moisture to particleboard, heat transfer between sheets during compression, compression time, suitable compression and hardening before or after gluing of the adhesives. Particleboard can be used as furniture or in interior architecture. With knowledge and technology, the particleboard manufactured from agricultural waste can raise the quality of life as an innovative product for commercial utilization.