Lignocellulosic Composites from Acetylated Sunflower Stalks

Abstract

Sunflower stalks could be an alternative raw material for use in the particleboard industry since the requirements of P1 general purpose boards for use in dry conditions and P2 boards for interior fitment for use in dry conditions are easily satisfied. Acetylation of sunflower stalks is found to greatly improve the thickness swelling (TS) value, with acetylated boards showing 19.7% weight gain, meeting the TS requirements of P3 Non-Load-Bearing—Humid and P4 Load Bearing—Dry criteria; however, acetylation adversely affects the internal bond strength (IBS). It is suggested that combinations of industrial wood chips with sunflower raw material may be used for the overall improvement performance of the particleboards.

Advances in Wood Composites II

“…An alternative means, probably more attractive, is so-called nanotechnology. Nanomaterials have unique characteristics, penetrate effectively and deeply into the wood substrate and improve fundamental properties [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31].…”

Nanomaterials and Chemical Modifications for Enhanced Key Wood Properties: A Review

“…A great amount of research in this area involves the reaction of anhydrides with wood. Anhydrides react with the hydroxyl groups of the wood cell wall polymers via a nucleophillic reaction pathway [11,12,13]. Researchers have mostly studied the reaction of hydroxyls groups with acetic anhydride, a process that is called acetylation.…”

“…Many studies have examined the sorption of the water vapour of acetylated wood, and the overall stabilisation was well-documented [19,20]. A study by Papadopoulos and Hill investigated the effect that the molecular size of a substituent group may have on the sorption of water vapour, as wood was modified with a series of anhydride molecules of different sizes, which at the same time, produced equivalent levels of cell wall bulking at different levels of hydroxyl substitution [13,21]. The equilibrium moisture content (EMC) data were analyzed by applying the Hailwood–Horrobin sorption model, which enabled the separation of the total sorption into monomolecular and polymolecular sorption.…”

Low-Input Crops as Lignocellulosic Feedstock for Second-Generation Biorefineries and the Potential of Chemometrics in Biomass Quality Control

“…Unfortunately, the introduction of acetyl functionalities resulted in a decrease in the internal bond strength. The authors concluded that a mixture of industrial wood chips and sunflower stalks might be appropriate to improve the particleboard specifications [122]. Silphium crops are discussed as promising candidates for biogas production.…”