Processing Factors and Properties of Thermal Insulation Boards Made of Plant Fillers

Wood processing soft waste is mainly used in the production of fuel briquettes, irrecoverable (non-recyclable) waste from spinning flax and cotton are incinerated or sent to dump. The development of methods for recycling non-recyclable cellulosic waste through the product manufacturing is relevant, both from the resource conservation perspective, as well as the environmental point of view. The issues of plant waste recycling through the manufacturing of various types of products are widely developed in the Russian and foreign scientific research practice. Researchers deal with the processing of wheat, rice straw, bamboo stalks, and other cellulosic materials. There is a plenty of published information on methods of soft wood waste recycling. However, no research on recycling irrecoverable waste of spinning flax and cotton fibers had been carried out before this paper. We propose to produce thermal insulation boards based on phenol-formaldehyde resol binder using flax and cotton spinning waste and soft wood processing waste. The wet production method used here involves mixing the filler with water, a precipitant solution and a binder. After spinning the material is dried. The paper presents the results of determining the physical and mechanical properties and thermal conductivity coefficient of boards made of plant waste. The research was carried out according to the B-plan of the second order. Adequate regression mathematical models of the dependences of physical and mechanical parameters of the boards on the varying factors of the production process were developed according to the experimental data processing results. Using the developed regression models we built the response surfaces of the composite parameters: the bending strength of the boards, the thickness swelling of the boards after 24 h of exposure in water and the thermal conductivity coefficient. Nomograms of the dependencies of board parameters on the values of varying factors have been developed based on the mathematical models analysis. The nomograms are the basis for the development of practical recommendations for determining the rational values of the parameters of insulation board materials production from irrecoverable waste of spinning flax and cotton and soft wood processing waste.