Artificial boards are not disposable products, and recycling old items can be very useful!

Unlike solid wood furniture, which carries no collectible or heritage value, panel furniture has a lifespan of only a few years and is frequently replaced. While China is a major producer of wood-based panels, it also produces a significant amount of discarded panels annually. Disposal of these waste products requires significant human and material resources, and places a strain on environmental resources.

Reusing discarded artificial boards can not only effectively reduce environmental pollution, but also save wood resources and create economic value.

At present, the recycling of waste artificial boards mainly focuses on two aspects: one is material recycling, which means processing wood materials and then using them as raw materials to produce other products; the other is energy recycling, which means processing waste artificial boards into fuel and other energy materials.

Recycling of waste artificial board materials

The material recycling of waste artificial boards mainly uses the wood materials in artificial boards, which are processed by physical and chemical means and then used in the production of new materials in the form of raw materials.

The production of recycled particleboard, wood composite materials, activated carbon and liquefied products are the main products of the recycling of waste wood-based panels.

01. Recycled particle board

Recycled particleboard is made by screening and separating discarded particleboard into shavings, which are then cleaned and dried. The discarded shavings are then mixed with fresh shavings in a certain proportion and processed under appropriate conditions to produce particleboard that meets national standards. Studies have shown that adding 40% fresh shavings to discarded shavings can produce particleboard that meets national standards.

This method can not only save wood resources but also reduce environmental pressure. However, a lot of dust pollution will be generated during the mechanical crushing, grinding, and screening of waste boards. Dust removal equipment is needed to reduce environmental pollution.

02. Wood composite panels

By processing waste artificial boards and compounding them with one or more other materials, wood composite materials with new properties can be prepared.

Waste fiberboard or particleboard powder can be mixed with thermoplastic resin to produce composite boards; composite boards made by mixing waste fiberboard with cement or gypsum in a certain proportion have performance that meets national standards.

As research gradually deepens, more composite panels made from waste artificial boards will surely enter the market.

03. Activated carbon

Activated carbon, a porous material with exceptionally strong adsorption capacity, is widely used in separation, purification, catalyst, and reagent recovery. In daily life, people often place several packets of activated carbon in newly renovated rooms to absorb free formaldehyde gas in the air.

The use of waste artificial boards to prepare activated carbon can make full use of the wood materials in the artificial boards. In addition, the adhesives in the artificial boards contain a large amount of nitrogen. The adsorption performance of nitrogen-rich activated carbon is much higher than that of ordinary activated carbon. Therefore, the activated carbon prepared from waste artificial boards has better quality.

04. Liquefied products

Through specialized treatment methods, waste wood-based panels can be liquefied and used in the production of other materials. Waste wood-based panels contain large amounts of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, making them potential chemical raw materials. The liquefied waste wood-based panels can be used to produce adhesives, foaming materials, molding materials, carbon fiber, and other products.

At present, the process technology for liquefaction of waste artificial boards is not yet mature, and the high cost prevents it from being widely promoted in the market, and further exploration is needed by researchers.

Fuel ethanol

Biodiesel

Energy recycling of waste wood-based panels

Energy recycling refers to the processing of waste artificial boards into various types of fuels, including pellet fuel, liquid fuel and gas fuel. Common processing methods include pellet fuel preparation and thermal cracking refining.

01. Preparation of pellet fuel

The wood materials in waste artificial boards can generate a large amount of combustion heat energy, making them an excellent energy conversion material. As fossil fuel resources (coal, oil, natural gas, etc.) gradually become depleted, biomass energy conversion is gaining increasing attention.

Waste wood-based panels are crushed, tempered, and compressed under high pressure into solid pellet fuel. Pellets offer advantages such as environmental friendliness, excellent combustion performance, high thermal efficiency (over five times that of direct combustion), and ease of transportation and storage. They can be used for heating, power generation, and household fuel, and their production and use are environmentally friendly.

02. Thermal cracking refining

Thermal cracking refining refers to the conversion of biomass raw materials into intermediate products such as liquid bio-oil, solid pyrolytic carbon and biogas through thermal cracking reactions and the realization of high-value utilization.

▲Biomass pyrolysis method

Pyrolysis mainly refers to the use of thermochemical methods to convert substances in waste artificial boards into intermediate products (such as bio-oil, pyrolytic carbon, biogas, etc.) that are easy to store and transport in an oxygen-free or limited oxygen environment, with moderate reaction temperature (450-600℃), high heating rate (1000-100,000℃/s) and extremely short gas residence time (less than 2s). These products are then further refined to obtain energy, materials or chemical products.

Summarize

With the development of science and technology, the way of treating waste will become more and more scientific and environmentally friendly, making full use of the surplus value of materials, improving the utilization rate of forestry resources and reducing environmental pressure.

Some text references:

Li Jian, Hou Xianfeng, Du Yueming, Liu Siqin, Yuan Zixiang, Gao Zhenzhong. Research progress on the reuse of waste wood-based panels[J]. Journal of Forestry Science and Technology, 2019, 44(3):55-58.