Feasibility of incorporating treated lignin and cellulose nanofiber in fiberboards made from corn stalk and rice straw
- Autores: Dyna Theng
- Directores de la Tesis: Gerard Arbat Pujolràs (dir. tes.), Marc Delgado Aguilar (dir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat de Girona ( España ) en 2017
- Idioma: español
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Carlos Manuel Negro Alvarez (presid.), Xavier Espinach (secret.), Grzegorz Kowaluk (voc.)
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
- Resumen
Commercially, fiberboards are made of fresh wood resources and synthetic adhesives such as urea/phenol-formaldehyde. Although wood is widely available, natural resources must be used in a responsible way, trying to get the best out of the resources that Earth provides us. In my home country, Cambodia, rice and corn are abundant and the waste after their cultivation (straw and stalks, respectively) is merely left in the field, dumped or even burned. This practice could fall into disuse through the valorization of these wastes, contributing both to economic growth of rural areas and environment.
On the other hand, formaldehyde-based resins come from non-renewable resources and, in addition, they are not biodegradable. In this sense, alternative binders based on natural resources must be developed. One strong alternative is the use of high-performance cellulose-based materials, such is the case of cellulose nanofibers (CNF), which could provide cohesion to the laminates. Another alternative is to recover lignin from industrial black liquors, which are a side stream from pulp industry.
In 2013, I applied for an ERASMUS Mundus grant to develop my Doctoral Thesis in the field of natural fibers and therefore I was assigned to LEPAMAP research group, in the University of Girona. This group works on the use of natural fibers for several applications (i.e. papermaking, composites, fiberboard manufacturing and others) since the beginning of the Nineties and, in the last years, they have been intensively working on CNF.
Overall, the motivation of this study is to find greener alternatives to fiberboards manufacturing, improving at the same time their properties and giving a “new life” to those resources that nowadays are considered as waste. The success of this study would show a business opportunity for rural areas wide world, but specifically in my home country where resources are not well managed, and, at the same time, an opportunity to contribute to the environment.
2.2 General objective The general objective of the study was to make fully bio-based and biodegradable fiberboards from two agricultural wastes, i.e. corn and rice biomass, with significantly better physical and mechanical properties than commercial fiberboards made from wood and synthetic adhesives.
