Potential application of fibrous sludge waste from paper mills in particleboard production

Abstract

This study investigated the potential use of fibrous sludge wastes (FSW) from a paper mill for particleboard production.The FSW containing wood fibers and inorganic materials was obtained from a commercial paper mill producing recycled paper from waste papers. After collection, the FSW was oven-dried and pulverized with a laboratory mill. Furthermore, the physical and chemical properties, fiber dimension, ash content, klason lignin content. and holocellulose content of the fibers of FSW were determined. The results showed that the addition of FSW to the surface and core layers of the particleboard greatly improved its thickness swelling and water absorption capacity compared with the control particleboard. Similarly, the bending strength, bending modulus, internal bond strength, and screw withdrawal resistance of the particleboard was improved after the addition of FSW to its surface layers. According to the test results, the particleboards are composed of 70% wood particles in the core layers, whereas the 5% wood particles plus 25% FSW (by weight) in the surface layers possessed the optimum physical and mechanical properties.