Using peanut shell added as filler for producing fiberboard

In this study, the shells of peanuts were refined with the thermomechanical pulping (TMP) method and ground with a Wiley mill to evaluate for fiberboard production. The experiments carried out within this scope are; determining of chemical contents such as holocellulose, alpha cellulose, lignin and ash, and solubility’s in alcohol, hot water, cold water, and 1% sodium hydroxide solution. Also, morphological properties such as fiber length, width, lumen width, cell wall thickness, slenderness ratio, flexibility ratio, rigidity ratio, Runkel ratio and “F” factor of the fibres were studied. Peanut shell samples were pretreated with hot water at 100 °C for 10 min and refined with a lab-scale refiner. In addition to a part of peanut shell samples were milled to obtain powder samples. Peanut shell TMP fibers and powder samples were added at different ratios (5%, 10%, 15%, w/w) to the wooden fibers for medium density fiberboard (MDF) production. Some physical and mechanical properties of fiberboard samples, such as density, water absorption, thickness swelling, modulus of elasticity (MOE), bending strength (MOR), and internal bond strength were determined and analysed statistically. The fiber properties of peanut shells were found to be more suitable for the production of wood composite materials than for papermaking. According to results, it was found that the addition of peanut shell TMP fibers into the refining process led to an improvement in the thickness swelling, while there was no statistically significant change in the other tested values.