A New Process for Recycling Waste Fiberboards

摘要

Research efforts enabled the development of a new process for the recycling of end-use wood panels into new marketable fiberboards. This patent-pending process is based on refiner techniques and allows the use of mixtures of fresh wood and waste panel chips as a raw material for dry-process fiberboard production. The process is applicable in existing fiberboard plants with only minor operation modifications. At the refining stage, chemical agents are employed and the process enables the use of significant amounts of waste material replacing over 20 percent of the wood feed and providing significant savings. The aim of the present work was to validate the industrial applicability of the new process in the recycling of waste fiber-boards. The new fiberboards obtained during the in- dustrial-scale trials were of acceptable quality. Testing results revealed that under conventional gluing and pressing conditions, the process effectively recycles the waste boards at a wood substitution level of at least 25 percent. Further validation and optimization work is presently underway in the direction of using other waste panel types and also increasing the level of waste in the feed material.