Utilization of tea oil camellia (Camellia oleifera Abel.) shells as alternative raw materials for manufacturing particleboard
Kamran Choupani Chaydarreh, Xiuyi Lin, Litao Guan, Hong Yun, Jin Gu, Chuanshuang Hu
Abstract
Tea oil camellia (Camellia oleifera Abel.) is a unique oil crop belongs to the genus Camellia of the Theaceae family with more than 4.4 million hectares in China to produce more than 2.4 million-ton fruit in 2019. There are about 1.8 million-ton by-products of tea oil camellia shell (TCOS). In view of the huge amount of TCOS produced, it is a severe concern to utilize the TCOS on a large scale instead of discarding it to cause various forms of environmental pollution and problems. Herein, we investigated the feasibility of using TCOS as a new lignocellulose resource instead of wood for particleboard production. The effective variables, including adhesive content, hot-pressing parameters (temperature, time, and pressure), and the ratio of shell particles to wood particles, were systematically investigated. Results showed the suitability of TOCS as a raw material for the particleboard industry. Accordingly, using 50 % of TOCS particles and 50 % commercial wood particles in the mat with 8% pMDI adhesive exhibited modulus of rupture (MOR) value of 13.4 N/mm2, modulus of elasticity (MOE) of 1840 N/mm2, and internal bonding strength (IB) of 1.22 N/mm2, qualified EN standard for particleboard type P2 (dry conditions), and its thickness swelling (TS) of 17 % met the minimum requirement of EN 312 for particleboard type P3.