Incorporation of Animal Manures as Reinforcing Fillers in High-Density Polyethylene and High-Density Polypropylene Composites

摘要

Many jobs are leaving rural America because of the negative attitude toward large animal production units. Most of the negative attitudes regarding animal production units are the threat of odor problems and pollution caused by the high density of animal production. There is a critical and immediate need for the animal production sector to find value added and environmentally acceptable uses for its animal manures. Traditional uses are typically low value fertilizer products which are in many cases equally socially and environmentally unacceptable particularly in high volume or confined animal production units. One of the alternatives is to use animal manures in industrial products. Based on past research at the Forest Products Laboratory in the area of wood and agricultural flours and fibers as fillers in thermoplastics, this research program uses swine and cow manures as reinforcing fillers in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and high-density polypropylene (HDPP) composites. This is a win-win situation as it increases the value of the animal manures, decreases the cost, and improves the mechanical properties of the thermoplastic composites. A 40-percent blend of dry swine manure with HDPE and 2 percent maleic anhydride polyethylene (MAPE) gives a composite with modulus of elasticity (MOE) in bending of 1.31 GPa and modulus of rupture (MOR) of 34.7 MPa as compared to the unfilled HDPE MOE of 0.75 GPa and MOR of 15.1 MPa. A 40-percent blend of dry dairy manure with HDPE and 2 percent MAPE results in a composite with a bending MOE of 2.18 GPa and MOR of 21.9 MPa as compared to 40 percent pine flour with 2 percent MAPE which has a MOE of 2.98 and MOR of 33.4 MPa.