RECYCLING OF AGRICULTURAL RESIDUES FOR PRODUCING HIGH QUALITY PRESSED WOOD

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Agric. Eng., Fac. of Agric., Zagazig Univ., Egypt

Abstract

The present research was carried out to study the suitability of using agricultural residues as a raw material for producing pressed wood. Two types of agricultural residues (Rice straw and wood sawdust) were used. Experiments were conducted to study some different operating parameters (pressing temperature, sample thickness and resin ratio) affecting the pressing process. The produced particleboards were evaluated in terms of static bending strength (modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity) and thickness swelling. Final quality of the produced particleboards was compared with the particleboard standard quality guidelines. The experimental results reveal that modulus of rupture (28.1, 39.8 MPa), modulus of elasticity (4530, 5030.2 MPa) and thickness swelling (6.3 and 3.9%) of the produced pressed wood from rice straw and wood sawdust, respectively were in the suitable region under conditions of 180°C pressing temperature and 8% resin ratio with acceptable sample thickness of 12 mm. Under these conditions, final quality of the produced particleboards was found to be very close with the particleboard standard quality guidelines.

Keywords