Painéis de fibras elaboradas a partir da casca do coco verde sem adição de resinas aglutinantes

Abstract

The growing consumption of coconut water leads to high volumes of tough management wastes. The use of this biomass adds value to the supply chain, reduces the amount of waste, increases the financial income, and extends the service life of landfills. An option to use the coconut biomass is manufacturing plywood panels as an alternative to wood plywood boards. Coconut husk has a comparative advantage in relation to the wood plywood: a high content of lignin, which under certain pressure and temperature conditions can act as a natural binder, dispensing synthetic bonding resins to aglutinate the fibers. Usually the resins are made with formaldehyde, an oil-derived chemical and potential cause of cancer. Plywood can be used to manufacture furniture, wall panels, and floor bases, without cutting down trees. The aim of this work was to produce and characterize lignocellulosic panels made with unripe coconut husk fiber and pith, with no adding of synthetic resins. The boards were characterized by thermal analysis, thickness swelling tests, water absorption, mechanical testing, FTIR spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. As expected, there was a significant correlation between the degradation of the main chemical constituents of the raw material and the final characteristics of the panels. According to the results, the lignin naturally present in the feedstock acted as a binder, it is possible to obtain panels with good structural integrity. All panels showed values of water absorption lower than the commercial MDF. Some panels showed higher elastic modulus to the commercial MDF.