Valorization of Sugarcane Leaf to Binderless Fiberboards by Hot-Pressing Process and Polyurethane Coating

Abstract

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) leaf is an abundant waste from agriculture. In this study, we prepared binderless fiberboards from sugarcane leaf with <3 % moisture (w/w) and <1 mm in size by hot-pressing temperature in the 210–240 °C range, followed by surface coating with polyurethane. The effect of hot-pressing temperature on the modulus of elasticity (MOE), modulus of rupture (MOR), internal bonding (IB) strength, and thickness swelling of the binderless sugarcane leaves was investigated. An optimal pressing condition for preparing the binderless sugarcane leaf fiberboards was 230 °C for pressing temperature, 5 MPa for pressing pressure, and 600 s for pressing time, giving 1200 kg m−3 for board density, MOE of 657.1 MPa, MOR of 7.04 MPa, and IB strength of 0.277 MPa. The thickness swelling of the coated samples was almost completely eliminated by the surface coating.