Use of Sugarcane Bagasse for Particleboard Production

Abstract

The use of agricultural residues for particleboard manufacturing increases their value-add and help meet the growing demand of raw materials for the panel industry. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to assess the quality of particleboards produced only with sugarcane bagasse or along with Pinus and Eucalyptus wood. The experimental design consisted of 5 treatments: T1) Eucalyptus panels, T2) Pinus panels, T3) sugarcane bagasse panels, T4) 50% Eucalyptus and 50% sugarcane bagasse panels, and T5) 50% Pinus and 50% of sugarcane bagasse panels. For each treatment, three panels were produced using 8% urea-formaldehyde adhesive, with 0.65 g/cm3 apparent density, 160°C pressing temperature, 4 MPa pressure, and 8 min of pressing time. The analyses revealed that use of sugarcane bagasse for particleboard manufacturing resulted in improved water absorption and thickness swelling properties after 2 h of immersion in water. In addition, the panels produced with bagasse only showed significant reductions in the mechanical properties. However, the use of sugarcane bagasse along with Pinus or Eucalyptus wood allowed the manufactured panels to meet all the conditions required by the CS 236-66 [1], ANSI A208.1 [2], and EN 312 [3] standards.