Conversion of agro wastes into potential raw materials for production has gained a lot of attention in research. This has led to the development of ceiling board using waste breadfruit seed coat and Recycled Low Density Polyethylene, as filler and binder respectively. The filler material (Breadfruit seed coat), was treated with 1 mol/dm3 of NaOH to eliminate the pigment and neutralized using 0.5 mol/dm3 Acetic Acid. After drying, the filler material was ground to a particle size of 600μm. Using Central Composite Design (CCD) tool of the Design Expert software, the experimental design was set up. From the design, thirty experimental samples were developed with the production parameters; press time, press pressure, press temperature and filler/rLDPE ratio as the independent variables. The produced samples were tested for Thermal Conductivity, Water Absorption, Thickness Swell and Density tests, which formed the responses for the Central Composite Design. The results of the experiment were analysed using the Response Surface Methodology while the validation was done using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The optimal values obtained for the production parameters are 19.722% filer/rLDPE, 10minutes press time, 197.31 °C press temperature and 9.042MPa press pressure, which gave a 775.661 g/cm3 density, 0.308% Water Absorption, 0.962% Thickness Swell and 0.367W/M.K Thermal Conductivity. This result shows that agro waste breadfruit seed coat is a good filler material for the production of ceiling board.

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This work explored the effect of African Walnut Shell Particle (AWSP) (Tetracarpidium conophorum) on the properties of recycled low density polyethylene (rLDPE) composite. rLDPE/ AWSP composite were prepared via compressive moulding techniques using AWSP of sizes 300 and 600μm respectively. Composite design of experiment and analysis of variant (ANOVA) were employed for optimization. Mechanical and morphological analysis of the composite were studied. rLDPE reinforced with AWSP of particle size 300 μm exhibited better tensile strength, modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) than those of 600 μm. Morphological analysis showed that uniform distribution of the Walnut shell particulates in the microstructure of the composite is the major factor responsible for the improvement in the mechanical properties. Optimality occurred at a press temperature of 206.465°C, press time of 10 min, press pressure of 7 MPa yielding a tensile strength of 14.082 MPa, MOR of 17.019 MPa and MOE of 755.028 MPa for 300 μm particle sized composite whereas for 600 μm size, it was achieved at press temperature of 199.993°C, press time of 6 min, press pressure of 7 MPa giving a tensile strength of 11.252 MPa, MOR of 15.401 MPa and MOE of 459.531 MPa respectively. The result from the optimization met the standard for interior and exterior mirror casing of automobiles.