Effect of Waste Wood Biomass on the Properties of Wood Sanding Dust/Recycled Polypropylene Composites | Chapter 9 | Chemical and Materials Sciences: Research Findings Vol. 3

Wood–plastic composites (WPCs) are a young generation of (semi)-biocomposites that have attracted increasing research interest in both scientific and industrial areas over the past few decades. The use of WPCs is rapidly growing worldwide in the automobile industry and building engineering for the production of consumer goods, domestic and technical materials, etc. To decrease climate change, more research focuses on decreasing waste wood biomass (WWB) burning and increasing its conversion into value-added products. This study aimed to characterise the WWB and to investigate its effect on the composition of a hybrid lignocellulosic filler on the properties of recycled polypropylene (rPP)-based wood-plastic composites (WPCs). The WWB was isolated from model wood processing wastewater with a new hybrid coagulant by the coagulation/flocculation method. In the work, two samples of WWB were studied. The first sample was isolated from the wastewater by its evaporation at room temperature first and then at 60°C for 48 h. The second sample was extracted by the coagulation/flocculation process of the wastewater with the developed hybrid coagulant, representing the polymer complex of the composite coagulant based on polyaluminium chloride and high-molecular polyethylenimine. Characterisation was performed using Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR). The waste biomass contained high-molecular lignin and hemicellulose substances and represented a finely dispersed powder. It was hydrophobic and was characterised by enhanced thermal stability. To minimise the negative effect of polymer wastes on the environment, recycled polypropylene as a polymer matrix was used with the hybrid filler in fabricating WPC samples. The presence of the coagulated WWB in the hybrid filler composition positively affects the mechanical properties, water uptake, and dimensional stability of the composite samples. This behaviour of the waste biomass suggests its potential to act as a compatibiliser, enhancing interfacial adhesion within the composite system.

 

Author (s) Details

Sanita Vitolina
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzerbenes 27, LV-1006, Riga, Latvia.

 

Galia Shulga
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzerbenes 27, LV-1006, Riga, Latvia.

 

Brigita Neiberte
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzerbenes 27, LV-1006, Riga, Latvia.

 

Jevgenijs Jaunslavietis
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzerbenes 27, LV-1006, Riga, Latvia.

 

Anrijs Verovkins
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzerbenes 27, LV-1006, Riga, Latvia.

 

Talrits Betkers
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Dzerbenes 27, LV-1006, Riga, Latvia.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/cmsrf/v3/5292

Modified Soda Lignin for Improvement of Interfacial Adhesion in Wood-Plastic Composites | Chapter 8 | Chemical and Materials Sciences: Research Findings Vol. 1

The principles of the Circular Economy dictate the sustainable, rational, and efficient management of wastes and by-products because their annual volume remarkably increases and negatively affects the environment. Here, a lignin-containing adhesion enhancer, a water-soluble polyelectrolyte complex (LPEC) composed of soda hardwood lignin (HASL) and polyethyleneimine (PEI), and the effect of the treatment of hydrolyzed and ammoxidized aspen sawdust with the LPEC nanoparticles were studied relative to the properties of wood-plastic composites (WPCs) based on recycled polypropylene (rPP). Here, aspen sawdust, representative of a waste of the mechanical processing of aspen wood (Populus tremula), was supplied by a Latvian company (4 PLUS Ltd., Aizkraukle, Latvia). The presence of the excess of free amine groups and salt bonds between PEI and soda lignin, forming hydrophobic sites in the LPEC structure, caused the enhanced surface activity of the LPEC. The treatment with the LPEC nanoparticles increased the content of the fixed nitrogen in the modified sawdust samples and was accompanied by decreasing their water sorption and increasing contact angles that favored the decrease in the polar part of their surface free energy. The decreasing wetting ability enhanced the mechanical and water sorption properties of the obtained WPC samples. The improvement of the interfacial adhesion between the nitrogen-containing groups of the treated sawdust and the oxygen-containing groups of rPP was explained by the formation of both covalent and physicochemical bonds.

 

Author (s) Details

 

Galia Shulga
Department of Lignin Chemistry, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia.

 

Brigita Neiberte
Department of Lignin Chemistry, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia.

 

Jevgenijs Jaunslavietis
Department of Lignin Chemistry, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia.

 

Anrijs Verovkins
Department of Lignin Chemistry, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia.

 

Sanita Vitolina
Department of Lignin Chemistry, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia.

 

Vadims Shakels
Department of Lignin Chemistry, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia.

 

Sandra Liveha
Department of Lignin Chemistry, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia.

 

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/cmsrf/v1/4543