FINAL YEAR PROJECT PROPOSAL

DEVELOPMENT OF ECO-FRIENDLY PARTICLEBOARD

COMPOSITES USING RICE HUSK

By

THANNUSS KRISNA
S/O ARUL JOTHY
201201947

Supervised By:
DR.NUR LIZA BINTI RAHIM

FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT
1.0 INRODUCTIO
N
1.1 Research Background......................................................................................................3
1.2 Problem statement...........................................................................................................4
1.3 Research Objectives........................................................................................................5
1.4 Scope Of Research..........................................................................................................5
2.0 LITERETURE REVIEW..................................................................................................6
2.1 Particle Board...................................................................................................................6
2.2 Development of particle board.........................................................................................7
2.3 Utilization of rice husk.....................................................................................................8
2.4 Processing techniques of particleboard............................................................................8
2.5 Safety Of Particle board.................................................................................................10
2.6 Common uses of Particle Board.....................................................................................10
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....................................................................................11
3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................11
3.2 Flowchart........................................................................................................................12
3.3 Material Preparation.......................................................................................................15
3.3.1 Rice Husk 15
3.3.2 Wood Particle 15
3.3.3 Polyurethane Adhesive 15
3.3.4 Particleboard Mold 16
3.4 Design Mix.....................................................................................................................16
3.5 Conducting The Test......................................................................................................17
3.5.1 Compressive strength 18
3.5.2 Flexural test 18
3.5.3 Tensile Strength Test 19
3.5.4 Water Absorption test 20
4.0 SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT...................................................................................21
5.0 REFERENCE...................................................................................................................22
6.0APPENDIX........................................................................................................................23
6.1 Gantt Chart 23

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INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background

Particle board or well known as chipboard is a designed wood item made from saw dust or
other wood residuals. Small logs from trees are crushed into small wood particles,
compressed, and pressured to form sheets or panels. Particles board is regularly utilized in
different applications, including furniture, cupboards, racking, and development. Particle
board is valued for its smooth and flat surface, making it suitable for veneering, painting, or
laminating. While it is affordable and versatile, it may have limitations in terms of strength
and resistance to moisture.

Rice is an important staple food for approximately half of the world population. More that
seventy countries mainly China, Indonesia, India produce rice. Rice husk and well known as
rice hull are protective outer layer of the rice grain. These Rice husk are agricultural waste. A
growing awareness of environmental issues has an eye on research on the efficient use of
agricultural waste. Composites are artificial materials engineered by the scientific
community. Now in this era, they started looking for materials which formerly thought as a
waste to make them useful in many valuable applications. Considering this rice husk is a
plentiful agricultural waste that meets the requirement, and it has been widely used to create
bio composite. To cover and protect the rice during the growth season, this rice husk is made
up of tough elements like lignin, and has a abrasive resistance behaviour and silica cellulose
structure . (Ayrilmis et al., 2012a)

The purpose of this project is to develop an eco-friendly particle board using the composite
of rice husk. Using the rice husk to produce particle board decrease the amount of agricultural
waste and preventing its disposal in landfills or open burning which can prompt to ecological
issue. Rising number of people are interested in creating and implementing these methods to
produce particle board using agricultural waste such as rice husk, coconut husk and other
renewable organic material. The growing amount of agricultural waste, the importance of
sustainable growth and the search for alternative material sources are some of the main
reason that are fuelling this interest.

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1.2 Problem statement

Trees slice down is expected to deliver as a construction material. Collectively a lot, have
been chopped down to put constuction together with wood, if this continues one day, we will
be missing of trees including habitat loss, disruption of ecosystems. The demand for timber
impacts old-growth forests and endangered tree species. Unlawful logging fuels the issue
leading to imbalance of greenhouse. Native communities and wildlife depending on forest
will suffer due to habitat loss. This matter cannot be stopped because it might collapse the
economical benefits, but it can be reduced by utilizing other form of natural material which is
technically eco-friendly and economical for the usage to produce furniture. (Iqbal et al., n.d.)

The flood of agricultural waste causes challenges in disposing them and landfill occurs as
the consequences of waste dumping system. Usage of agricultural waste such as rice husk
ensures sustainable growth since those waste can be disposed, economical because of the
usage of waste as raw material and eco-friendly because rice husk is not harmful to the
environment. Rice husk stands as a promising eco-friendly alternative with multifaceted
potential, offering a sustainable solution to several environmental and industrial challenges.
Its abundant availability as an agricultural byproduct not only curtails waste management
issues but also holds substantial promise as a renewable resource. Tackling the potential of
rice husk presents a potential chances to decrease the dependency on non-renewable
resources, fundamentally bringing down the natural effects while steering a range of
innovative, environmentally conscious industries.

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1.3 Research Objectives

The objectives of the research are:

i. To investigate the potentiality of the rice husk in particle board
ii. To analyze the physical and mechanical properties of the particle board.

1.4 Scope Of Research

This project will be conducted to analyze the potentiality of modified particle board
formulation with using rice husk as a filler. The main materials which is wood particle from
wood processing facilities and rice husk are collected from the rice mill plant. Test which
includes tensile strength, compressive strength, water proof test, colour test, flexibility
strength scratch test, will be done in the campus laboratory. In this project the rice husk will
be used in different percentage in the mixture (30%,40%,50%) and the result which will be
obtained will be compared with those of conventional particle board formulation without the
addition of rice husk.

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2.0 LITERETURE REVIEW

2.1 Particle Board

Particleboard is a panel product manufactured by spraying wood particles with adhesive,

forming them into a mat, and compressing the mat to desired thickness between heated
Platens to cure the adhesive . Particleboard can likewise be supposed to be a three-layered
board, with fine particles on the top and base surfaces, and bigger wood chips in the center.
Particleboard can be supposed to be a nonexclusive term for a composite board basically
made out of cellulosic materials (typically wood), by and large as discrete pieces or particles,
as recognized from fiber, reinforced along with a holding framework, and which might
contain added substances. The wood particles are pressed and bonded together with resin
creating a tight compact panel that can be machined cleanly. The surfaces are sanded smooth
at the mill, ready for use or finishing with a high-pressure laminate, decorative foil or timber
veneer. Particleboard is one of the two gatherings of molecule composites which are usually
perceived in light of size of wood parts and the technique for make. Particleboards have
chips, drops, or wafers as the significant constituent. The other gathering of molecule
composites is the fibreboard. It has its significant constituents as fiber and fiber groups . The
strength of the product is determined by the adhesive used and not the fibre used, although
the size and shape have influence on the strength . (LR 3.Feature-Particleboard0609, n.d.)

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2.2 Development of particle board

Current compressed wood, as an option in contrast to normal wood, was designed in the
nineteenth hundred years, however toward the finish of the 1940s there was insufficient
timber around to moderately make compressed wood. Particleboard was expected to be a
substitution. German innovator of molecule board was Max Himmelheber. The primary
business piece was created during The Second Great War at a processing plant in Bremen,
Germany. It utilized squander materials like planer shavings, offcuts or sawdust, hammer-
processed into chips, and bound along with a phenolic resin. Hammer-milling involves
smashing material into smaller pieces until they pass out through a screen. Most other early
particleboard manufacturers used similar processes, though often with slightly different
resins. It was found that better strength, appearance and resin economy could be achieved by
using more uniform, manufactured chips. Manufacturers began processing solid birch, beech,
alder, pine and spruce into consistent chips and flakes. These better layers were then put on
the exterior of the board, with the focal area made out of coarser, less expensive chips. This
sort of board is known as three-layer particleboard. All the more as of late, reviewed
thickness particleboard has likewise advanced. It contains particles that progressively
decreased as they draw nearer to the surface. Concurred that the improvement of the
molecule board industry was animated in Europe by amble deficiencies and in the US by
huge amounts of unused softwood plant deposits. In the last part of the 1940s, various
particleboard plants were underlying Europe and US yet the item was unrefined and the
business battled to catch new business sectors . (Temitope, 2015)

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2.3 Utilization of rice husk

Research also have been done about the utilization of rice husk. (Kumar S., Sangwan P.,
2014) have said that use of rice husk could tackle the removal issue and decrease the expense
of waste treatment. Rice Husk and its debris are utilized straightforwardly for assembling and
orchestrating new materials. Rice husk debris utilized in steel, concrete and development
enterprises. Rice Husk go about as an adsorbent for weighty metal expulsion from squander
water. Simple accessibility and low cost of rice husk in rice creating nations is an additional
advantage towards the utilization of this material. Thusly richly and sustainability of rice
husk addresses a genuine benefit over wellspring of waning non-renewable energy sources
for bioethanol creation. Different advantages of rice husk and rice husk debris can be
accomplished by future basic exploration endeavours to give new stimulus to neighbourhood
and provincial manageable turn of events. (Mor V, 2013)

2.4 Processing techniques of particleboard

Shangai Jinnah Import and Export Co.Ltd stated that particleboard is made from small
diameter wood, branches wood residues and non- wood agricultural residues via chip
preparation, drying, spreading and hot press section. Finished boards can be used for
furniture, building, packaging, vechicle and ship decoration and lamination . (Efig, n.d.)

The production line of particleboard is placed under the section below.

i. Chip preparation section.

ii. Drying and sifting section
iii. Glue regulating and applying section
iv. Forming and Hot-pressing section
v. Cooling and sizing section
vi. Sand section

Particleboard making starts with particles preparation in the laboratory where the trees
and harvested and bucked into smaller segment before it if chipped by using a
commercial chipper. The chips are then reduced into particle using laboratory type
hammer mill.the air-dried particles are screened on vibrator screen machine to obtain the
sizes of particles of 0.5-1.0 and 1.0-2.0 mm.The accepted particles are dried in an oven
with temperature of 60 degree celsius to achieve moisture content (mc) of 4-6%. A pre-

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weighted amount of particles comprised are blended initially without binder to enable it
to mix thoroughly prior to spraying of the furnish then comprised of urea formaldehyde
resin, wax emulsion and ammonium chloride (NH4CI).Urea-formaldehyde resin catalyst
is applied at a resin content of 10 % resin solids based on oven-dry weight of wood
particles. The wax emulsion is applied at 1% based on the weight of the resin and
ammonium chloride (NH4CI) catalyst act as hardener was applied at 1 % based on the
resin content . (Ayrilmis et al., 2012b)

After blending the particles are spread evenly into 340 mm x 340 mm wooden box
former using metal caul plate as the base to produce a loose mat. Silicone release agent is
sprayed onto the caul plate as the base to prevent the panel from sticking to the plate
during hot pressing. The mat formed is initially pre-pressed manually to consolidate the
thickness. Distance bars are placed at both sides of the mat in order to get the targeted
board thickness during hot pressing. The mat is then hot pressed ,in a thermal-oil heated
hydraulic hot press at an elevated temperature of 145 degrees Celsius up to 200 degrees
with a specific pressure of 18 kg cm to achieve target thickness 12 mm.The mat is hot-
pressed for 5 mins based on the recommendation of the resin supplier. After hot-pressed
the board are then conditioned in a conditioning room maintained at a relative humidity of
65 +- and 20 +- degree Celsius for 7 to 10 days prior to properties evaluation .

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2.5 Safety Of Particle board

Safety concerns are of two parts, one being fine dust released when particleboard is
machined (e.g., sawing or routing), and occupational exposure limits exist in many countries
recognizing the hazard of wood dusts. The other concern is with the release of formaldehyde
which is classified by the WHO as a known human carcinogen . Particleboard is a
reconstituted wood product containing wood, resin and wax. Machine tools should be fitted
with dust extractors and the wearing of a dust mask and eye protection is recommended .

2.6 Common uses of Particle Board

Today’s particleboard gives industrial users the consistent quality and design flexibility
needed for fast, efficient production lines and quality consumer products. Particleboard
panels are manufactured in a variety of dimensions and physical properties providing
maximum design flexibility for specifiers and end users. Some of the common uses of
particleboard are countertops, door core, floor underlaying, manufacture of home decking,
office and residential furniture, shelving, store fixtures, stair treads and kitchen cabinets.

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3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

The particle board manufacturing process initiates by blending the primary materials.
Three different mixtures will be created based on the percentage of rice husk, namely (30%,
40%, 50%). Additionally, a control mixture with 0% rice husk will be generated to assess the
strength of particle boards incorporating rice husk as a filler. The project involves the
preparation of a total of 48 particle boards, each measuring 300 mm x 300 mm x 15 mm
(thickness). Six tests will be conducted in total, with each test utilizing three samples to
calculate the average value.

Figures 3.1 and 3.2 below illustrate the flowchart depicting the experiment's objective
that will be accomplished. Initially, wood particles, the raw materials, will be gathered from
sawmills, and their particle size will be determined through sieve analysis. The accepted
particle size will then be employed in the mixture. Subsequently, rice husk collected from the
rice mill plant will be segregated based on specified percentages for three different mixtures.
The wood particles and rice husk will be combined, and adhesive will be added into the
mixture. Once the mixture is prepared, it will be poured into molds and compressed using a
pressing machine or an alternative method to form the particle board. The resulting samples
will progress to the subsequent step before undergoing physical and mechanical testing.

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3.2 Flowchart

PHASE 1

Preparation of
Material

Wood Particle Rice Husk Polyurethane glue

By grinding and cutting Screened or Sieve Is mixed following to

into small pieces. to achieve a the manufacture’s
consistent size guidelines.

Figure 3.1 : Phase 1 Preparation of material

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PHASE 2

Wood Particle Rice Husk

Dried and screening

Adding resin and blending

Forming mould and pressing

The board is allowed to cure according to resin’s specification

The board is carefully removed from the mold.

Figure 3.2 : Mixing the materials

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PHASE 3

Testing

Mechanical Physical

-Tensile strength -scratch

-compression -colour
strength

-flexural strength

-water absorption

Data Analysis

Figure 3.3 : Testing of the product

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3.3 Material Preparation

3.3.1 Rice Husk

Raw rice husk (RH) will be sourced directly from the nearest rice mill in Perlis for the
purpose of this research. Subsequently, the RH will undergo multiple physical tests to
ascertain its suitability as an additive for the particleboard. The rice husk will be sun-dried for
approximately two weeks to decrease its moisture content. After this moisture reduction
process, the dried waste will be shredded and ground into powder, breaking it down into fine
particles before being sifted through standard sieves. (Muruganandam et al., 2016)

3.3.2 Wood Particle

The raw material, wood particle will be sourced from Monex Timber Sdn.Bhd. saw
mills. Subsequently the wood particle will undergo some processes to achieve the appropriate
particle size. The process includes sieving and drying, where the wood particle that pass
through the 2 mm sieve and retained by the 0.64 mm sieve will be used for this study.
Following the sieving process the collected wood particle will be dried under the sunlight to
eliminate the water content within them.

3.3.3 Polyurethane Adhesive

In this project, polyurethane is utilized as a limiting specialist. This glue will act as the
specialist to join the wood particles and rice husk, framing a particleboard. The amount of the
folio for a particleboard not set in stone through fundamental tests including the making of
test particleboards. This is fundamental since combinations with shifting measures of rice
husk require various amounts of cover or glue. Subsequently, fundamental preliminaries will
be led to acquire the ideal measure of folio in view of the particular arrangement of wood
particles and rice husk in the combination. (Suleiman et al., 2013)

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3.3.4 Particleboard Mold

In this project, the necessary size of each example (particleboard) is 300 mm long, 300 mm in
width and 15 mm in thickness. A sum of 48 examples are required for this review. To
accelerate and make the cycle simple, a steel shape with aspects of 1200 mm long, involved
900 mm in width and 15 mm in thickness will be use. The shape is partitioned into 12
segments inside, considering the production of individual particleboard tests of the
predetermined size.

3.4 Design Mix

The conventional particleboard usually consists 100 % of raw material, which is wood
particles. Here are some samples with zero number of alternative material will be produced to
act as control variable. Thus other bonds will be produced with addition of three different rice
husk levels ( 30%, 40%, 50%) to replace the existing wood particle as shown in table 3.1.The
calculation of the rice husk particleboard with the wood particleboard is calculated using
volume instead of weight. The ratio of wood particle to rice husk employed in this project are
1:0, 0.7:0.3, 0.6:0.4 and 0.5:0.5.

Sample Rice Husk (RH)(%) Wood Particle (%) Total (%)

PB( Control) 0 100 100
PB 1 30 70 100
PB 2 40 60 100
PB 3 50 50 100

Table 3.1 : Design mix of the particleboard

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3.5 Conducting The Test

Testing strategy was embraced for water assimilation, rigidity, compressive and flexural
strength in view of the suggestion by (BS).Tensile strength Inward security strength is
regularly analyzed property for a particleboard. As far as strength properties, this is one of the
properties which have a great deal of importance. Elasticity test is a mechanical test
performed on bundling materials to decide the most extreme burden that can be applied to a
material before it breaks or tears Malleable testing machine is utilized to compute the rigidity.
Particleboard with varying rice husk content will be tested with three samples for each test to
obtained the average values. The results will be compared with the control particleboard with
100 % of wood particle and 0 % rice husk. The following table shows the samples with the
different amount of fly ash and their tests.

Sample Test Quantity Standard

Control ( 0 %) Tensile strength
Compression Strength
12 BS : EN 319:2011
Flexural strength
Water absorption
30 % Tensile strength
Compression Strength
12 BS : EN 319:2011
Flexural strength
Water absorption
40% Tensile strength
Compression Strength
12 BS : EN 319:2011
Flexural strength
Water absorption
50% Tensile strength
Compression Strength
12 BS : EN 319:2011
Flexural strength
Water absorption

Table 3.2 : Samples with their test ,quantity and standards

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3.5.1 Compressive strength

Compressive strength is a maximum stress that a material can sustain under crush loading. It
is nothing but the maximum amount of compressive load a material can withstand before
fracturing. The particleboard will undergo this test to obtained its maximum strength after
composite with the alternative materials. The particleboard strength will be tested after the
curing process in a room temperature. The example with various measure of rice husk as
displayed in debris will put in the pressure machine and will pack by bit by bit applied load.
The perusing will be recorded and the compressive strength will be determined. This pressure
test will complete by utilizing the universal testing machine(UTM) according to the British
standard.

(Source:Jeffrey C.Evans :2019)

Figure 3.3 : Compression test for particleboard

3.5.2 Flexural test

Modulus of rupture is an important property determining the application of the product

for structural components. This property results will depend according to the board density.To
measure this a concentrated bending load will apply at the center as shown in Figure 3.4. A
concentrated bending load was applied at the center with a span of 15 times the thickness of
the Specimen (Laemlaksaku., 2010)]. This test will be conducted using the universal test
machine (UTM) according to BS : EN 319:2011 standard.

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 (Source :Khaled Zahar;2019)
Figure 3.4 Flexural test for particleboard

3.5.3 Tensile Strength Test

This is the test that to decide the internal bond strength and it is importance attrong the
strength qualities. The elasticity test is a mechanical test that expects to decide the most
extreme burden that a material can endure prior to bursting or tearing. In this sort of test, the
particleboard test will put on the machine and got or hold at the two finishes. The machine
works physically to extend the two closures of the board until it comes up short. This test will
go through by utilizing the universal testing machine (UTM) according to the British
standard.

(Boursier Niutta et al., 2023)

Figure 3.5 Tensile test for particleboard

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3.5.4 Water Absorption test

The water absorption test for each particle board is done as per BS : EN 319:2011 standard
The board is soaked for two hours at room temperature and then measuring the weight of
each and then soaking them again and repeated the procedure till a constant weight is
obtained. Water Absorption of the Particle Board is measured using the formula below
Water absorption (%) = (Wf – Wi/Wi)*100
where Wf is final weight and Wi is initial weight. Each board had taken approximate 12 hours
to attain a constant weight. The final weight of each is measured and the water absorption
value is reported in Table 2. The water absorption percentage should not exceed 40 % . A
higher absorption value will lower the strength of the board considerably.
(Harshavardhan & Muruganandam, 2017)

(Eterno Teixeira & Cesar Batista, n.d.)

Figure 3.6 :Water Absorption test for particleboard

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4.0 SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT

This investigation into the incorporation of rice husk in particleboard holds broad benefits,
particularly in the creation of new construction materials for indoor use, derived from
recycled waste. Additionally, it contributes to the preservation of natural resources used in
wood ash production on a significant scale. The outcomes of this research will serve as a
foundation for future endeavors in developing a prototype unit for particleboard as a
construction material, with the goal of advancing its commercial viability and application
potential. Moreover, the anticipated findings from this research on the utilization of ricehusk
in particleboard will augment the understanding of its potential applications, not limited to
particleboard but also encompassing other materials.

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 5.0 REFERENCE

Ayrilmis, N., Kwon, J. H., & Han, T. H. (2012a). Effect of resin type and content on properties of
composite particleboard made of a mixture of wood and rice husk. International Journal of
Adhesion and Adhesives, 38, 79–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijadhadh.2012.04.008
Ayrilmis, N., Kwon, J. H., & Han, T. H. (2012b). Effect of resin type and content on properties of
composite particleboard made of a mixture of wood and rice husk. International Journal of
Adhesion and Adhesives, 38, 79–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijadhadh.2012.04.008
Boursier Niutta, C., Paolino, D. S., & Tridello, A. (2023). Additively manufactured lattice
structures: An innovative defect-based design methodology against crash impact.
Engineering Failure Analysis, 152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2023.107436
Efig. (n.d.). AP-42 CH 10.6.2 Particleboard Manufacturing. https://doi.org/10.6.2-1
Eterno Teixeira, D., & Cesar Batista, D. (n.d.). Flooring Panels from Cement-bonded
Particleboard Substrate Overlaid with Brazilian Wood of Tauari.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242364134
Harshavardhan, A., & Muruganandam, L. (2017). Preparation and characteristic study of particle
board from solid waste. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 263(3).
https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/263/3/032005
Iqbal, N., Agrawal, A., Dubey, S., & Kumar, J. (n.d.). Role of Decomposers in Agricultural Waste
Management. www.intechopen.com
LR 3.Feature-Particleboard0609. (n.d.).
Mor V, D. R. (2013). Utilization of Rice Husk and Their Ash: A Review. In RJCES (Vol. 1, Issue
5). www.aelsindia.com
Muruganandam, L., Lingam, R., Ranjitha, J., & Harshavardhan, A. (2016). A review report on
physical and mechanical properties of particle boards from organic waste.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301920930
Suleiman, I. Y., Aigbodion, V. S., Shuaibu, L., & Shangalo, M. (2013). DEVELOPMENT OF
ECO-FRIENDLY PARTICLEBOARD COMPOSITES USING RICE HUSK PARTICLES
AND GUM ARABIC. In Journal of Materials Science and Engineering with Advanced
Technology (Vol. 7, Issue 1). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305682149
Temitope, A. K. (2015). Recycling of Rice Husk into a Locally-Made Water-Resistant Particle
Board. Industrial Engineering & Management, 04(03). https://doi.org/10.4172/2169-
0316.1000164

6.0APPENDIX
6.1 Gantt Chart

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