Use of maize cob for production of particleboard

Abstract

Agricultural residues are materials generated in large quantities in Brazil and can accumulate to such extent as to cause environmental problems. Among agricultural residues, maize cob is one worthy of notice, and an alternative use for maize cob would be to produce particleboard panels in association with wood particles. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using maize cob for production of particleboard panels. The following maize cob percentages were used: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, in association with particles of Pinus oocarpa wood. Panels were made with 8% of urea formaldehyde and 1% of paraffin (based on dry weight of particles). For compressing the panels, a pressure of 3.92 MPa was applied at a temperature of 160° C, for 8 minutes. Increased replacement of pinewood by maize cob residue promoted significant improvements to the properties water absorption after two hours of immersion, thickness swelling after two and after twenty-four hours of immersion. Mechanical properties had a decreasing correlation with the maize cob percentage being incorporated.Index terms: Environmental problems, reuse, physicomechanical properties, agricultural residues. RESUMOOs resíduos agrícolas são materiais gerados em grande quantidade no Brasil, podendo se acumular no ambiente, gerando graves problemas. Um desses resíduos que merecem destaque é o sabugo de milho. Uma das alternativas para o reaproveitamento do sabugo seria a produção de painéis aglomerados em mistura com madeira. Objetivou-se, neste trabalho, avaliar a viabilidade da utilização do sabugo de milho para a produção de painéis aglomerados. As porcentagens de sabugo de milho utilizadas foram de 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% e 100% associadas com partículas de madeira de Pinus oocarpa. Os painéis foram produzidos com 8% de uréia-formaldeído e 1% de parafina (base massa seca de partículas). Na prensagem dos painéis, foi utilizada pressão de 3,92 MPa e temperatura de 160º C por um período de 8 minutos. O aumento da substituição da madeira de pinus pelo resíduo sabugo de milho promoveu melhoras significativas para as propriedades de absorção de água, após duas horas e inchamento em espessura, após duas e vinte e quatro horas. As propriedades mecânicas apresentam relação decrescente com a porcentagem de incorporação de sabugo de milho. Termos de indexação:Problemas ambientais, reaproveitamento, propriedades físico-mecânicas, resíduos agrícolas.

Coir and Sisal Fibers as Fillers in the Production of Eucalyptus Medium Density Particleboards - MDP

“…This decrease in IB was also observed while using particles of corncob by Scatolino et al 15 (0, 25 50, 75, 100%) mixed with wood (Pinus oocarpa) in chipboards. The mean values decreased from 1.1 to 0.3 MPa with the corn cob inclusion.…”

“…Scatolino et al 15 observed the same for WA when they increased the amount of corn cob in chipboards, but for TS24h the mean values decreased. The authors attributed this to the increase of compression ratio and the largest amount of extractive corn cob.…”

“…However, any lignocellulosic material can be used for the manufacture of particleboards, since they have adequate quality [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . It is also possible to mix different types of wood to other materials when the lignocellulosic materials do not show adequate quality by themselves, such as: vine pruning residues 12 ; poppy husk 13 ; coir 5 ; coffee stem 14 ; maize cob 15 ; coffee husk 16 ; rice hulls 17 and sugarcane bagasse 11 . The use of natural fibers as reinforcement has aroused great interest in developing countries because of their low cost, availability, energy saving, renewable source, non-toxic and also with regard to environmental issues [18][19][20] .…”

THERMAL STABILITY OF Pinus oocarpa AND MAIZE COB PARTICLEBOARDS

“…In the case of pine, the resins present in wood may have influenced the achievement of the highest temperature peaks for the pine panels compared with those containing maize cob. The values of the extractives found for the wood in question was 5.2% (Scatolino et al, 2013). In addition, the pine wood resin contains a component called turpentine.…”

“…According to CONAB (2013), the total area of corn cultivation in Brazil is approximately 15.84 million hectares; therefore, the production of a particleboards would be a useful alternative to reuse the generated waste. Scatolino et al, (2013) obtained good results with chipboard panels produced by a mixture of maize cobs and Pinus oocarpa in a 50:50 proportion.…”