Optimisation of mixing ratios of rice husks, maize cobs and resin for general-purpose particle boards using response surface methodology

Abstract

The development of particleboards from agro residues has been identified as a means of reducing redundant agricultural wastes on farms which often decompose leading to the emission of greenhouse gases. However, the production of particleboards from agriculture wastes and other materials without optimizing mixing ratios leads to the production of particleboards with poor mechanical properties, un-optimized cost of production, and wastage of raw materials. This work aimed at optimizing the mixing ratios of maize cobs, rice husks, and wood glue binder to produce general-purpose particle boards. The production of particleboards was investigated under the following conditions: Rice husks (0-100g), Maize cobs 0-100 g) and amount of binder was (150-250 g) using Box-Behnken Design. Statistically significant models (p<0.05) were developed to represent the relationship between the responses (MOR and MOE) and the production variables. Both models showed significant fit with experimental data with R2 values of 0.84 and 0.69 respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that MOR and MOE were influenced by the amount of all the input factors i.e. rice husks, maize cobs, and resin. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the MOR and MOE and the optimization results showed that the maximum MOR and MOE values of 5.54 N/mm2 and 911.16 N/mm2 were respectively obtained at the optimum mixing ratios of 100g rice husks, 100g maize cobs and resin loading of 154.4g. The particleboard produced at the optimized conditions satisfied the American National Standard ANSI/A208.1-1999 specification for general purpose particle boards.