Topic A.6: Development of bio-composite materials with pre-extracted lignocellulose

Not much is known about the type of change in the properties of materials produced from lignocellulose, and the way this occurs when preceded by chemical pre-utilization. Extracting certain chemical constituents from the cell structure leads to, among other things, a change in the physical and mechanical properties, such as the sorption behavior (Konnerth et al., 2010; Wimmer et al., 2010). In this topic, various materials, such as chipboard, oriented beach board, and fiberboard, are manufactured from such previously-used, but well-defined, raw materials and tested in the laboratory. Raw materials from forestry and agriculture, characterized in topics A.2 and A.3, are employed. Topic A.2 primarily considers the by-products sawdust and woodchips. Grass types from topic A.3, such as Miscanthus, reed, as well as wheat straw, should be employed. The increased silicium content of these plants will be checked and/or reduced by additional processing steps. Bast fiber plants such as hemp can be added as their long fibers can create new properties such as improved formability (especially in the case of fiberboard). Fibrous materials (wood, matrix, fiber plants, additive) are produced with and characterized by different technologies using statistical design of experiments, such as the simplex-centroid mixture design modeling.

From the product requirements, properties are defined which are then realized technologically. Manufacturing technologies with their inherent (dis)advantages are also taken into account. This allows material models with optimized properties to be developed, enabling a sound choice of material and providing a basis for producing improved materials from renewable resources. By networking with topic A.7, an overall view of resources and their processing efficiency becomes possible. In addition, the link with topic B.5 creates the basis for the essential planning and control steps in the industrial implementation.