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Advanced Performance Materials 5, 183–191 (1998)

°
c 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands.

Sugar Cane Bagasse Waste as Reinforcement

in Low Cost Composites
S.N. MONTEIRO, R.J.S. RODRIQUEZ AND M.V. DE SOUZA
Science and Technology Center, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Av. Alberto Lamego, 2000—Horto—
28015-820, Campos, RJ, Brazil

J.R.M. D’ALMEIDA
Materials Science and Metallurgy Department, Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marquês
de São Vicente, 225—Gávea—22543-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Abstract. The State University of the North of Rio de Janeiro State is currently engaged on a large development
program to exploit the potentialities of sugar cane industry in a self sustained nonpolluting program. Sugar cane
is a traditional industry responsible for the main fraction of the economy of the northern region of the State of Rio
de Janeiro, also known as the North Fluminense region. In this respect, a project of particular interest is the use of
the sugar cane bagasse waste as reinforcement to polymeric resins for fabrication of low cost composites. In the
present work a study was carried out on the possible uses of bagasse waste as reinforcement in polyester matrix
composites. Preliminary results have attested this possibility. Composites with homogeneous microstructures
could be fabricated and the level of their mechanical properties enable them to have practical applications similar
to the ones normally associated with wooden agglomerates. Future developments are expected to increase the
performance and competitiveness of these composites as compared to those of other materials in the same structural
class.

Keywords: bagasse waste, composites, environment, renewable resources

1. Introduction

With the arrival of the third millennium the human society is facing the challenge of de-
veloping useful materials from renewable resources. In this context composites made from
materials obtained directly from the biomass will, certainly, occupy a relevant position. In
particular, polymeric resins reinforced with sugar cane bagasse waste have a lot of interest
in developing countries such as Cuba, India and Brazil, that have large potential applications
for this type of material.
Sugar cane is one of the most traditional plantations cultivated in large areas in Brazil.
The alcohol extract from sugar cane is the base of the Brazilian program for nonconven-
tional fuels for automotive engines that proved to be a valid alternative for gasoline [1].
Nevertheless, the sugar cane industry produces a large mass of wastes such as stillage and
bagasse that, if not suitably treated, have an extremely harmful effect upon the environment.
For example, a portion of the bagasse waste as well as leafs and stalk points of the sugar
cane plant are generally burnt in situ at the plantations. Besides the atmospheric pollution
due to smoke, soot and ashes, this practice causes a continuous process of acidification and
impermeabilization of the soil.
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The estimated production of sugar cane bagasse in the northern region of the State of
Rio de Janeiro is 650,000 tons per year [2]. Part of this, around 400,000 tons, is burnt as
fuel in the steam engines of the sugar and alcohol plants [2]. Part of the remaining portion
is presently being used as fertilizer for the soil. Both practices are old and inefficient and
are being replaced by modern technology that will result in a large excess of bagasse
waste. Unless uses for these left over bagasse are found, the North Fluminense region
will face a serious environmental problem in a near future. The most practicable solution
is to transform the bagasse in useful materials. One possibility for this is to do an acid
hydrolysis conversion to chemical products such as furfural, which can then be processed
into polymer resins [3]. Another route is to fabricate paper out of the bagasse fibers (see
e.g., [4]). Finally, a relatively simple possibility is to use bagasse as reinforcements in resin
matrix composites.

2. Sugar cane bagasse composites

As discussed above, two major advantages arise from the development and use of sugar cane
bagasse reinforced composites in the North Fluminense region in Brazil. First, the bagasse
is a largely available and almost inexpensive raw material which can be easily processed.
Secondly, the use of bagasse waste in composites is an environmentally clean alternative to
the traditional uses such as fuel in sugar cane and alcohol plants which contribute to the air
pollution in the region.
The processing of bagasse for fabrication of composites is similar to that for chopped
wood or wood dust agglomerates. In that case of bagasse it is necessary to have an ini-
tial operation of cleaning from organic residues. The bagasse is then cut, sieved and
dried before mixing with the adhesive resin. Commonly used commercial resins are urea-
formaldeyde and phenol which are mixed up to 15% in weight with the bagasse depending
on the level of humidity resistance needed [5]. Chemical additives may also be used to
improve the properties of the composite and its resistance to fire and to the attack of
fungi.
For the fabrication of bagasse reinforced composites pressures of up to 7 MPa and
temperatures up to 200◦ C are used. The actual values used are a function of the final
application required to the composite and of the required final surface finishing of the
product [5]. These bagasse composites can replace wood agglomerates in applications such
as furniture, interior panels, wall lining, doors and toys, with the advantage of lower cost
and good quality [5, 6].
In principle, bagasse reinforced composites could also be hand lay-up with a room
temperature cure thermoset resin such as amine based, furfurilic or polyester. This would
avoid the use of pressure and, mainly, temperature for a low cost industrial process.
With these ideas, the scope of this work was to study the use of sugar cane bagasse
waste as reinforcement in low cost resin matrix composites. Such a composite has the
additional attractiveness of be an alternative material, suitable to substitute the common
wood agglomerates and, therefore, could be considered as a potential factor for reduction
of native forest destruction in the region.
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3. Experimental methods and materials

In order to evaluate the potentialities of the bagasse waste as reinforcement, polyester resin
matrix composites were fabricated. The as-received sugar cane bagasse had sizes varying
from 1 to 1.5 meters. They were washed in flowing water and dried in a low temperature
oven, at 60◦ C, for 2 hours. They were then cut into small pieces with maximum length of
around 5 mm. The cut material was once again dried in order to reduce the moisture content
to a minimum.
A commercial polyester resin of large application in the manufacturing of usual com-
posites, i.e., room temperature cured hand lay-up and spray-up composites, was used as
matrix. It consists of a mixture of a preaccelerated orthoftalic polyester resin with 2% in
weight of methyl-ethyl ketone catalyst.
The composites were fabricated by mixing together the proper quantities of bagasse fibers
and resin. Before incorporation of the bagasse, the resin was preheated to 50◦ C in order
to lower its viscosity and to aid on the mixing operation. After 10 minutes of continuous
stirring the catalyst was added and the mixture was again homogenized for at least 5 minutes.
The slurry, bagasse plus fluid resin, obtained was cast into a mold coated with release
wax. The mold was closed and lightly pressed. This procedure helps to remove entrapped
air bubbles and also enables the fabrication of composites with uniform thickness.
The composite plates obtained were 150 mm large, 250 mm long and 6.5 mm thick. The
nominal volume fraction of the fabricated composite plates was 20% of bagasse and 80%
of resin. Rectangular test specimens 110 mm long, 25.4 mm large and 6.5 mm thick were
machined from the plates. The specimens were tested in flexion using a three point bend
apparatus with a span to depth ratio of 16. The tests were conducted on a mechanically
driven test machine under a constant cross head speed of 1 mm/min.
Reflected light optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used,
respectively, to experimentally measure the volume fraction of the porosity and bagasse
and to characterize the bagasse morphology. The SEM analysis was conducted at 10–20 kV
with secondary electron imaging. The characterization of the composite microstructure
was performed using quantitative analysis [7]. A point counting was used to determine the
volume fraction Vi of the phases present.

4. Experimental results

The experimental results obtained from the quantitative analysis are shown in Table 1, where
the figures quoted for the standard deviations correspond to a level of 90% of certainty. The

Table 1. Volume fraction of sugar cane bagasse waste and voids on the bagasse-polyester composite.

Phases Volume fraction, Vi (%)

Bagasse 18.4 ± 1.0

Voids or pores 7.6 ± 1.8
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Figure 1. General aspect of the treated material. The surface of the bagasse is clean of surface debris.

Figure 2. The untreated sugar cane bagasse showing gummy tissues and debris attached to its surface.

morphology of the bagasse is shown in figures 1 and 2, for a treated and untreated material,
respectively. It is clearly shown in these figures that the untreated bagasse has a large amount
of gummy tissues and debris attached to its surface. Nevertheless, as shown in figure 3, for
many of the treated bagasse pieces the cleaning was not complete.
Flexural stress vs. strain curves, such as the example shown in figure 4, were obtained
from the mechanical tests. The experimental results for the flexural stress σr and the corres-
ponding strain δr at rupture as well as those for the elastic modulus E are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Experimental results of the mechanical tests. Sugar cane bagasse waste-polyester composite.

σr (MPa) δr (%) E (MPa)

19.50 ± 0.98 1.65 ± 0.09 1,697 ± 63

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Figure 3. Treated bagasse showing an incomplete surface cleaning. Many debris remain attached to the surface
of the bagasse.

The very low figures obtained for the standard deviations indicate that an homogeneous
material was produced by the fabrication method used. The results shown in Table 2 are,
nevertheless, relatively low when compared to those from the more usual and sisal polyester
matrix composites [8–10].

5. Discussion and conclusions

The results presented in Tables 2 and 3 show that the experimental route applied to fabricate
sugar cane bagasse waste-polyester composites is able to produce a suitable, low cost

Table 3. Strength at rupture of common structural materials and composites.

Material σr (MPa)

Portland cements (types I to V) [11] 2.1–2.6

Concrete [11] 1.4–14.0
Chopped bagasse-gypsum matrix [12] 5.5–8.0
Bagasse agglomerate [6] 18.0 (min)
Bagasse board [13] 30.0−55.0
Parana pine [14] 82.0
Plywood [15] 15.5–20.7
Tempered hardwood [15] 24.8
Gypsum board [15] 0.83
Chopped glass fiber-epoxy composite (V f = 20%) [16] 206.0
Paperboard [17] 6.2–13.1
Low density particle board [17] 5.5–9.7
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Figure 4. Typical flexural stress vs. strain curves obtained for the sugar cane bagasse composites.

composite material. However, as stated earlier, a lot of work has to be done in order to
optimize the overall behavior of these composites. The results obtained here show that the
fabricated bagasse-polyester composites have a homogeneous structure. This is reflected
in the very low figures determined for the standard deviations of both the bagasse and the
pores volume fractions. Nevertheless, a very high value was obtained for the porosity and,
in this aspect, the composite can be classified only as a poor quality one [7].
Higher molding pressures and/or a higher mixing temperature will be used in order to
lower the viscosity of the resin/bagasse mixture and help to reduce the void content in the
composite.
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The values obtained for the mechanical properties are relatively low when compared to
those shown by natural fiber composites. But, and most important, the flexural strength
at rupture of the bagasse-polyester composite is higher, or at least similar, to the values
showed by many materials used in interior walls and panels, like wooden agglomerates or
concrete. The values of the strength at rupture of many structural materials and composites
[11–17] are listed in Table 3 for comparison to the experimental value shown in Table 2.
The relatively low flexural properties here obtained could be directly attributed to three
experimental aspects. First, the bagasse fibers did not suffered any chemical surface treat-
ment. This certainly contributes to a weak interface between the bagasse and the resin matrix
because the lignin content of sugar cane bagasse is high, 21% on the average [18, 19]. A
high lignin content is considered to prevent a good surface wetabillity between polymeric
matrix materials and natural fibers [20], although it increases the resistance to chemical and
microbial attack [21]. Besides that, as shown in figure 3, many of the bagasse pieces remain
covered by gummy like tissues that could decrease interface strength. It is expected that a
more efficient cleaning of the bagasse as well as a treatment to remove any residue of sugar
crystals that could remain attached onto the fibers’ surface, would improve the fiber-matrix
interface bond and consequently increase the mechanical properties of the composite.
The second experimental aspect is related to the length of the bagasse pieces used. It
is well known that there exists a critical length under which a complete stress transfer to
the reinforcement element is not satisfactorily accomplished [22]. Since most of the cut
bagasse pieces are smaller than 5 mm, it is expected that the full mechanical capacity of the
bagasse could not be achieved. In fact, the stress transferred to the bagasse can be evaluated
by the equation [22]:

2·τ ·l
σ = (1)
d

where τ is the shear stress acting at the reinforcement-bagasse interface, l and d are,
respectively, the length and the diameter of the bagasse pieces. Since both the aspect ratio,
l/d, of the bagasse pieces and the interfacial shear stress have small values, the stress
transferred to the reinforcement could not be high.
The third experimental aspect is related to the void content. Thermoset polymers, like the
orthoftalic polyester resin used here, are brittle materials exhibiting toughness parameters,
such as the critical stress intensity factor K Ic , lower than even those of ceramic materials [23].
Pores are known to strongly affect the mechanical properties of brittle materials. Decreases
as high as 50% in the stress at rupture can occur due to the presence of no more than 10% of
porosity [24]. Therefore, the figures quoted in Table 2 can be tough as lower limit values for
these low reinforcement volume fraction, and hence matrix properties and fracture behavior
dominated, composites.
One can say that as a preliminary study, the present work has shown promising results
for these room temperature cured polyester matrix bagasse waste reinforced composites.
The homogeneous characteristics of the fabricated composites as well as the level of their
mechanical properties enable them to have practical applications similar to those normally
associated with wooden agglomerates. Improvements in the processes of bagasse cleaning
and surface treatments could increase the performance of these composites and provide
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190 MONTEIRO ET AL.

greater competitiveness with respect to other materials in the same structural class. Besides
that, agglomerates of sugar cane bagasse and composites using furfurilic resin as matrix
will be analyzed. The furfurilic route is considered as having a great potential since the
resin itself can be obtained as a product from the sugar cane industry [3]. By their side,
the agglomerates made with bagasse have the attractiveness of a substitute for the common
wood agglomerates what is considered as a potential way to reduce native forest destruction.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of this research program provided by
the following Brazilian Agencies: CNPq, CAPES, FINEP and FAPERJ.

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