Assessment of Properties of Composite Boards from Groundnut Shells and Sawdust for their suitability for Structural Applications

Abstract

Sawdust and groundnut shells created sustainable composite boards.• Reusing waste reduces environmental impact. • Composite boards have superior thermal properties. • Boards are created inexpensively using waste to protect the environment.Groundnut shells and sawdust are generated in vast quantities yearly but underutilized. In developing countries, this situation leads to their disposal by unplanned landfilling, indiscriminate dumping, or open burning as ineffective solid waste management systems persist. Such practices constitute severe environmental problems that need to be urgently tackled. In this work, composite boards were fabricated from groundnut shell particles (GSP) and sawdust particles (SDP) at varying volumetric proportions of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100 % using Topbond as a binding agent. The boards were dried completely and then assessed for water absorption, bulk density, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, thermal inertia, availability, and flexural strength. The results revealed improvement in the samples' thermal insulation performance as the SDP proportion increased from 0% to 100%. Though samples fabricated with 50 % each of the SDP and GSP exhibited a balance in the thermophysical and mechanical properties, all the samples could ensure better thermal insulation than conventional ceilings such as Isorel and plywood. Generally, the samples can be used as ceiling panels or partition elements in building design. This idea of utilizing groundnut shells and sawdust to develop composite panels for building purposes, as described herein, has been reported for the first time. It could help to ensure the construction of affordable and thermally safe buildings while solving the problems associated with their disposal.