Formaldehyde-free environmentally friendly composites based on agricultural waste. I. Novel adhesive system

A novel formaldehyde-free system based on carboxymethyl cellulose was investigated as an adhesive for the production of composites from agricultural waste products such as bagasse. The system was characterized by spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and antimicrobial action. The mechanical and physical properties of the bagasse composites produced were determined. Factors such as water content during board formation, pretreatment of bagasse by water steam, amount of adhesive used, and pressure and temperature of pressing stage were studied to arrive at the optimum conditions for improving composite properties. The results obtained show that the novel formaldehyde-free adhesive system has higher antimicrobial action and was found to degrade rapidly with a relatively high amount of residual char in comparison with commercial adhesives. Bagasse composites made with the new adhesive show improvement in mechanical properties, as well as fire retardancy, compared with commercial-adhesive-bagasse composites. Nonisothermal analysis was used to study thermal stability, fire retardancy, and to determine activation energies of degradation.