Preparation and Characterisation of Sustainable Wood Plastic Composites Extracted from Municipal Solid Waste

Municipal solid waste (MSW) contains plastic waste that can be used as a sustainable green substitute to reduce oil footprints, CO2 emissions, and environmental pollution. This study aims to recycle plastic waste by manufacturing wood-plastic composites and to improve its mechanical properties by using additives, coupling agents, and lubricants. These composites are prepared by mixing 40–70% of wood flour with 20–25% of a polymer matrix. Wood was degraded at 220 °C, and then the composites were processed at 50 °C. The manufacturing process carried out in the study involved wood waste meshing, drying, shredding, drying, trimming, filling, blending, compounding, and extrusion moulding. The compounding of composites was accomplished in twin-screw extruders. Once the mixture was uniformly mixed, its final shape was given by a two-step extrusion moulding. Previously, researchers aimed at enhancing the mechanical properties of the composites, but our research focus was to improve their durability for different industrial applications. The results suggest that the impact strength is 17 MPa with 50% of wood powder ratio while the maximum value for the tensile strength is 32.5 MPa. About 50% of an increase in wood powder resulted in 8.1% bending strength increase from 26.1 to 32.8 MPa. Reducing the plastic matrix and the wood-particles water swelling ratio resulted in better mechanical properties. The wood species also affected the mechanical properties with their excellent dimensional stability and less variability. A high proportion of wood fibre tends to increase its steady-state torque and viscosity. The mechanical properties against different wood-flour proportions indicate that composite materials exhibit superior water swelling behaviour and extrusion quality.

EFFECT OF ADDING WOOD POWDER ASH ON CBR VALUE IN STABILIZED HIGH PLASTICITY CLAY CEMENT AND LIME

<p>Cement and lime are widely used as stabilizing agents for soft clays. Some pozzolanic materials have also been used as additives such as asphalt, geosta, fly ash (geopolymer), base ash, salt. Industrial waste such as rice husk ash, coal burning ash (geopolymer) is also used as an alternative for stabilization materials. This research aims to study the effect of sawdust ash, as wood waste, to replace cement and lime on the stabilization of high plasticity clay. The effectiveness of sawdust ash, in this study, was evaluated from the CBR value. The test samples were also reviewed under conditions with and without immersion and with and without curing. Based on the test results, lime is very effective as an additive because it increases the CBR value of more than 100 at a level of 10%. Wood husk ash also increases the CBR value by 100%. The use of cement, lime and wood husk ash requires curing time so that there is a strong bond between the clay and additives. The use of additives without curing did not increase the CBR value. In the stabilization of clay with 10% lime, replacement of lime with wood husk ash by 4%-6%, can be used as a road sub-grade with good quality.</p>

PENGARUH MEDIA TANAM SABUT KELAPA DAN SERBUK KAYU JATI TERHADAP PERTUMBUHAN MISELIUM JAMUR TIRAM PUTIH (PLEUROTUS OSTREATUS)

The purpose of this study to determine the effect of planting media of coconut husk and teak sawdust on the growth of white oyster mushroom mycelium (Pleurotus ostreatus) and its implementation on fungi class X SMA. The data analysis used was ANOVA and BNJ tests. This study used 4 treatments, namely P0 as much as 1000 grams of bran, P1 as much as 700 grams of teak wood powder + 300 grams of bran, P2 as much as 700 grams of coconut fiber + 300 grams of bran, P3 as much as 350 grams of coconut husk + 350 grams of teak wood powder + 300 grams bran. The results showed that the planting media of coconut husk and teak sawdust on the growth of the white oyster mushroom mycelium (Pleurotus ostreatus) did not significantly affect the initial time of growth with the fastest mycelium growth in Treatment P3 which is day 4 HSI, no significant effect on the length of the mycelium with an average of 19.5 cm in the P3 treatment and significantly affected the mycelium fulfillment time in the P1 treatment, which is day 49 HSI.

High-Strength and Low-Cost Biobased Polyurethane Foam Composites Enhanced by Poplar Wood Powder Liquefaction

An environmentally friendly liquefaction of wood powder was prepared by atmospheric pressure liquefaction technology to replace the non-renewable petroleum polyols in the preparation of polyurethane foam composites. The liquefaction time varied from 0 min to 140 min. The composition of liquefied products and the effects of liquefaction time on the morphology, apparent density and mechanical properties of polyurethane foam composites were investigated. The results showed that the optimal process time for the preparation of wood powder liquefaction products, which could replace traditional petroleum polyols, was 110 min. At this time, polyether polyols are the main liquefaction products, with an average molecular weight in Mn reaching 237 and average molecular weight in Mw reaching 246. The functional group of the liquefied product consisted mainly of hydroxyl, with the highest content of 1042 mg KOH/g and the lowest acid number of 1.6 mg KOH/g. In addition, the surface of the polyurethane foam based on poplar wood is dominated by closed cell foam; thus its foam has good heat insulation and heat preservation properties. At 110 min liquefaction time, the apparent density of polyurethane foam is 0.164 g/cm3 and the compression strength is 850 kPa, which is higher than that of traditional polyurethane foam (768 kPa), which is without wood powder modification. Replacing petroleum polyol with renewable wood powder liquefaction products to prepare biomass-based polyurethane foam composite materials, researching complex chemical changes in different liquefaction stages, and finding the best liquefaction conditions are of great significance to optimize the performance of polyurethane, address the shortage of resources and reduce environmental pollution.

Efficiency of Wood-Dust of Dalbergia sisoo as Low-Cost Adsorbent for Rhodamine-B Dye Removal

Wood-dust of Dalbergia sisoo (Sisau) derived activated carbon (AC) was successfully tested as an adsorbent material for the removal of rhodamine B dye from an aqueous solution. The AC was prepared in a laboratory by the carbonization of wood powder of Dalbergia sisoo at 400 °C in an inert atmosphere of N2, which was chemically activated with H3PO4. Several instrumental techniques have been employed to characterize the as-prepared AC (Db-s). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)/differential scanning colorimetry (DSC) confirmed that 400 °C was an appropriate temperature for the carbonization of raw wood powder. The FTIR spectra clearly confirmed the presence of oxygenated functional groups such as hydroxyl (–OH), aldehyde/ketone (–CHO/C=O) and ether (C–O–C) at its surface. The XRD pattern showed the amorphous structure of carbon having the 002 and 100 planes, whereas the Raman spectra clearly displayed G and D bands that further confirmed the amorphous nature of carbon. The SEM images displayed the high porosity, and the BET analysis revealed a high surface area of 1376 m2 g−1, a pore volume of 1.2 cm3 g−1, and a pore size of 4.06 nm with the coexistence of micropores and mesopores. The adsorption of dyes was performed by varying the dye concentration, pH, time, and the sample dose. The maximum percent of RhB dye removal by AC (Db-s) was 98.4% at an aqueous solution of 20 ppm, pH 8.5, an adsorbent dose of 0.03 g, and a time of 5 min. This study proved to be successful in addressing the local problem of wastewater pollution of garment and textile industrial effluents using locally available agro-waste of Dalbergia sisoo.

The Method of Computing Diameter of Nano Wood Powder Based on Geometric Figure Fitting

Computing the diameter of nanometer wood powder is the key step of intelligently acquiring wood powder mesh during processing and production in the wood powder manufacturing industry. To obtain the micro image of nano wood powder, the method of hole filling is adopted to fill the binary image of wood powder particles. The contours of wood powder particles are extracted with the use of the edge detection operator, and the control experiment is carried out accordingly. The shape line method is adopted while fitting the geometric shape of wood powder particles, and the longest side or diameter of the figure is solved so as to obtain the diameter. In addition, based on the conversion standard, the mesh number of particles is calculated. The method presented in this study is expected to facilitate the automation of wood powder pellet processing industry, whereas the method is also found to have optimal applicability and reference significance for the measurement of other sorts of particles.

Dietary Supplementation of Some Antioxidants as Attenuators of Heat Stress on Chicken Meat Characteristics

The study evaluated the effect of dietary chromium and vitamin C, Zinc, and sorrel wood powder supplements on chicken health and the nutritional, textural, and sensorial quality of chicken meat. A total of 120 Cobb 500 chickens (heat stress, 32 °C) were assigned into four treatments: control diet (C) and three test diets including 200 µg/kg diet chromium picolinate and supplemented with: 0.25 g vitamin C(VC)/kg diet (E1), 0.025 g Zn/kg diet (E2), and 10 g creeping wood sorrel powder (CWS)/kg diet (E3). Crude protein concentration increased in the breast meat from the E3 group; crude fat decreased in E1 and E3 compared to those fed the C diet. Dietary combinations of CrPic with VC, Zn, and CWS increased redness and decreased the luminosity parameter of breast meat compared with the C group. Dietary combinations of CrPic with VC and CWS lowered the hardness of breast meat. Significant positive correlation was found between hardness–gumminess (r = 0.891), gumminess–cohesiveness (r = 0.771), cohesiveness–resilience-EE (r = 0.861; r = 0.585), ash-L* (r = 0.426), and a negative one between ash–a* (r = 0.446). In conclusion, a dietary combination of CrPic with VC, Zn, and CWS as antioxidant sources could have a beneficial effect on quality without affecting sensory attributes.