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Production process for high density high

performance binderless boards from
whole coconut husk

Article in Industrial Crops and Products · July 2004

Impact Factor: 2.84 · DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2003.12.017 · Source: OAI

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Jan E G van Dam Edwin Keijsers

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 Industrial Crops and Products 20 (2004) 97–101

Production process for high density high performance

binderless boards from whole coconut husk
Jan E.G. van Dam∗ , Martien J.A. van den Oever, Edwin R.P. Keijsers
Agrotechnology and Food Innovations, Wageningen-UR, P.O. Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands

Received 1 April 2002; accepted 22 December 2003

Abstract

Coconuts are typically growing in coastal areas of tropical countries. The husk is abundantly available as cheap residue from
coconut production in many areas, which is known to yield the coarse coir fibre. In this project a simple and efficient technology
has been developed to produce high strength-high density board materials from whole coconut husks, without the addition of
chemical binders. The board exhibits excellent properties, which are comparable with or even superior to commercial wood
based panels. The pressed coconut husk boards can be handled with common wood working equipment for drilling and sawing,
planing and polishing. Screwing, however, is only possible after pre-drilling and the board product is too hard for nailing.
© 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Coconut husk; Coir; Binderless board

1. Introduction Three processing routes from husk to boards with-

The coconut husk comprises circa 30 wt.% coir fi-
bres and 70 wt.% pith, which have to be separated
for traditional coir fibre applications in woven car-
pets, ropes, brushes and matting (Van Dam, 2002).
This can be achieved by retting procedures or mechan-
ical decortication. The pith residue contains a rela-
tively high amount of lignin, which is demonstrated in
this project to act—at elevated temperatures and un-
der pressure—as a meltable binder for the coir fibres,
which forms a strong and stable resin-like adhesive
(Van Dam et al., 2004).
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jan.vandam@wur.nl (J.E.G. van Dam).
out addition of synthetic binder have been evaluated
(Fig. 1). The mechanical and physical properties of
these boards have been compared to the properties of
commercial MDF and particleboard.
After separation from the coconut, the husk has
been refined to small particles and short fibres us-
ing three opening techniques, viz. steam explosion,
extrusion and milling (Fig. 2). All three fibre open-
ing processes yield material which can be processed
quite well into board material by means of hot press-
ing. 3D moulded products can be produced as well
(Fig. 3). The mechanical and physical properties of
these boards have been compared to the properties of
commercial MDF and particleboard and demonstrated
to have excellent performance (strength of 50 MPa
and stiffness of 5 GPa). This good performance opens

0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2003.12.017
98 J.E.G. van Dam et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 20 (2004) 97–101

Extrusion

- Board
Nut Husk Steam Hot
harvesting separation explosion pressing - 3D Moulded parts

Milling

Fig. 1. Scheme of the processing chain from coconut to binderless board.

Fig. 2. Conversion steps of coconut husk into binderless board.

commercial possibilities for the development of cheap
building material.
2. Development of sustainable building materials
and timber substitute
Timber is a dwindling resource and replacement
by products derived from renewable resources such
as annual crops and agro-residues could have impor-
tant consequences with regard to conservation of tim-
ber stocks and reduction of deforestation. The project
aims to demonstrate the potentials of (fresh) coconut
husks as raw material for the production of environ-
mentally safe and high performance construction ma-
terials. High performance fibre boards, poles and pan-
els, which will be locally produced, can be applied in
cheap housing and production of materials for pack-
aging industries. The project has been designed to ex-
pand and diversify the production and trade of high
value-added products for coconut producing countries,
e.g. all wet tropical areas. End-users will be local as
 J.E.G. van Dam et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 20 (2004) 97–101
Fig. 3. Samples of pressed binderless coir-boards and 3D parts.
well as export markets for building materials, but also
packaging industries (crates, packing cases and boxes)
and potentially export markets for price competitive
and environmentally safe consumer goods. Potentials
of the products in other areas than building markets
or packaging could be found in a wide variety of con-
sumer goods and furniture, especially when a technol-
ogy has been developed for the production of shaped
parts and 3D structures (Fig. 3).
3. Technical evaluation
The three processing routes, extrusion, steam explo-
sion and milling, which have been evaluated for board
production from whole husks without addition of syn-
thetic binder (Fig. 1), yielded all suitable raw materials
for board production. However, the best results were
obtained with milling, so this pre-processing step was
selected for further studies. The influence of pressing
conditions on mechanical properties of the board was
assessed, which indicated that at 180 ◦ C the maximum
strength and stiffness was achieved. The pressure (be-
tween 300 and 750 kN) and pressing times (3–30 min)
were of less influence. The dry matter content of the
milled husk, however, did affect the board properties
significantly.
The boards show mechanical properties (strength of
50 MPa and stiffness of 5 GPa) comparable to those
99
of commercial MDF and surpassing those of particle
board (strength of 15 MPa and stiffness of 3 GPa). The
thickness swelling in water of coconut husk board is
less than MDF and particleboard (8, 17 and 21%, re-
spectively after 24 h soaking in water), while the dif-
ference in water absorption is even more pronounced
(8, 24 and 65%, respectively). After immersion in wa-
ter, the coconut husk binderless boards show retention
of mechanical properties, surpassing those of MDF by
a factor of two. The density of the coconut husk boards
(1.3–1.4 g cm−3 ), however, is higher than for com-
mercial MDF and particleboard (0.8 and 0.7 g cm−3 ,
respectively). Detailed reporting on the technical in-
formation will be presented in following papers (Van
Dam et al., 2004).
4. Economic and financial appraisal
A pre-feasibility study (Spritsma et al., 1979) car-
ried out in Sri Lanka in 1978, was positive on the
potentials of this method. An industrial plant with a
minimum annual production of 6000 t of coir-board,
was considered economic feasible at that time and may
be built directly operational. Coir-boards and panels
will be applicable as cheap and durable building and
construction materials, packaging materials (as substi-
tute for wooden/plywood and other packaging). The
market potential for timber replacement is impressive.
100 J.E.G. van Dam et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 20 (2004) 97–101
The annual world consumption of timber is in the or-
der of 300 million tonnes. Annual world production
of approximately 40 million tonnes of coconuts (cor-
responding to +25.000 million coconuts) yields more
than 2 million tonnes of fibres of which only a small
part is exploited. The world production of coir fibres is
estimated at +400.000 tonnes annually (FAO, 2004).
There is no need to enhance the volume of the annual
production as only 15–20% of the available coir fibres
is utilised.
If only a small proportion of the timber products
market can be penetrated by fibre board products based
on coir, the prospects for coir as a commodity can
be raised substantially. The prices of wood replacing
products are ranging from US$ 220 m−3 for particle
boards to US$ 1150 m−3 for plywood/multiplex, while
the prices of products like MDF (US$ 780 m−3 ) or
hardboards (US$ 950 m−3 ) are in the range of those of
(softwood) timber products. Raw softwood timber will
cost approximately US$ 500 m−3 . Softwood prices
for pulping purposes, however, may range around 100
US$ per ton, which is similar for coir husks. The de-
fibration processing costs for coir husks will be sub-
stantially lower (due to less energy consumption than
required for wood) and are estimated between US$
10–20 per ton.
The cost calculation for the production of particle
board is composed of 34% glue and 32% wood (66%
raw materials costs), 24% labour and 10% energy
(34% production costs). The relative high costs for the
glue can be excluded in the production of coir-boards,
according to the results of this project. Moreover, a
large part of the high labour costs in the developed
countries can be reduced as the wages and living stan-
dards in developing areas are substantially lower. The
overall costs of the coir-board production could there-
fore be substantially lower than for the cheapest build-
ing boards on the market. As it is expected, the quality
of the obtained boards will be comparable to the per-
formance of MDF, which is substantially more expen-
sive than particle boards. Therefore it is likely that the
price performance ratio of the novel building boards
will cover the market potential of a broad range of
wood products and building panels.
Cost-effective fibre processing techniques will lead
to increased use of coir in a wide range of products.
Value-added exports of coir can be developed if a pro-
duction of high performance materials can be realised,
which will enhance the earnings of coir producing in-
dustries and improve the income and living standards
of many local workers.
Establishment of an industrial activity, which pro-
duces competitively priced products for export mar-
kets, will contribute to the stabilisation of coir as a
commodity and increase the income of coir producing
countries. Target beneficiaries are the poorer regions
where the need for cheap housing can be combined
with economic exploitation of in abundance available
coir husks.
Establishment of new processing units will provide
labour in fibre processing and board production sectors
as well as trade and building or packaging sectors. The
project would benefit the following specific categories.
• Valorization of coir will be beneficial to producers
of coconuts (farmers).
• The new fibre processing technology will provide
labour for husk collectors, traders and processors.
• Production of fibre extraction equipment and build-
ing of board production plants will provide labour
in mechanical engineering sectors.
• A fibre board plant will provide labour to workers
for production, finishing (sawing/sanding), mainte-
nance, sales, transportation, etc.
• The availability of cheap fibre boards will raise ac-
tivity in the building & construction sector for cheap
housing, as well as in packaging industries.
As a spin off of the project a more health and en-
vironmental safe process for coir production could
be introduced in traditional coir processing industries
(Hoefnagels et al., 1994). These fibres may also be
applied in many other end-uses.
5. Environmental aspects
Production of fibre boards, poles and panels based
on coir as studied in this project has many environ-
mentally positive aspects as compared to other build-
ing and packaging materials.
• A non-polluting fibre extraction method, which is,
if compared to traditional processes, not insanitary
for the workers.
• No requirement of fossil fuels for energy generation.
 J.E.G. van Dam et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 20 (2004) 97–101
• No (expensive) addition of synthetic binders is nec-
essary.
• No detrimental effects on health like asbestos-cement
products or formaldehyde based particle boards.
• Contribution to conservation of timber stocks and
reduction of deforestation.
• Fully compatible.
• No waste problems (side products can be used as
fuel).
6. Socio-economic and developmental aspects
The design and development of an industrial plant
should be based on support from local home indus-
tries, trade and small enterprises. Currently applied
fibre extraction procedures are labour intensive, pollut-
ing (Umayorubhagan et al., 1995; Nandan and Abdul
Azis, 1995; Abbasi and Nipaney, 1993) and detrimen-
tal for health (most demeaning jobs for women: emp-
tying retting pits and tedious hammering of soaked
husks) (Risseeuw, 1980). The semi-mechanised meth-
ods of fibre processing involves many accidents with
losses of hands or fingers of the workers, which
complicates the recruitment of young workers.
The initiation of an industrial coconut husk board
producing plant will provide labour in raw material
processing and end production. If a stable production
level of coir based materials can be realised, the in-
creased demand of raw material supply will initiate or
increase local trade of husks and mean an additional
income to the farmers and thus raising of the standard
of living (Van Dam, 2002).
Production of cheap and high performance build-
ing and construction materials will be beneficial for
the local building markets. The availability of cheap
building and construction materials is important for
improvement of the quality of housing in the poorer
regions. Export promotion of half- and end-products
like panels and packaging materials (boxes, chests),
furniture (cupboards, kitchens) will be important for
raising the income of developing countries. Organi-
sation of local industries and development of infras-
tructure (transportation, saw mills, assembly lines)
will be important spin-offs of the project. Further re-
search will be directed towards scaling up and further
optimisation of the processing steps throughout the
production chain.
101
6.1. Outlook
The summarised results presented here of labscale
experiments for board production are currently being
scaled up in the Philippines for pilot evaluation and
detailed assessment of the techno-economic viability
of the proposed technology. The feasibility and choice
for small scale (village level) production or large scale
industrial production plants of 9000 tonnes per annum
remains to be answered in the next phase of the project.
Acknowledgements
This research project is financially supported by the
Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) and super-
vised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Or-
ganisation (FAO) and carried out in close co-operation
with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and the
Fiber Industry Development Authority (FIDA).
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