Selected Properties of Particleboard Made from Sugar Palm (Arenga pinnata) Dregs

Dregs from the sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) starch industry are considered a waste product of the agricultural industry and have not yet been optimally utilized. Therefore, this study aimed to manufacture particleboards from dregs using different amounts of adhesive and particle size ratios. Sugar palm dregs, which had been separated into fibers and powder/fine particles, were used as raw material for making particleboards. The fiber had an average length of 6.84 ± 3.23 cm, while the fine particles were of a size that passed through size 10 mesh and remained in size 60 mesh. Three ratios of fiber to fine particles (100:0, 75:25, and 50:50 wt%) with three different amounts of sucrose-citric acid adhesive (10, 15, and 20 wt%) were used in this study. Increasing the amount of fine particles and the resin content can improve the physical properties and the internal bond strength of boards made from sugar palm dregs. The fine particles possibly filled the gap between the fibers in the particleboard, while the fibers exhibited a high bending strength. As a result, a high-performance particleboard can be attained by combining the composition ratio of fiber/fine particles and resin content. In this study, particleboards made from fiber/fine particles (75:25 wt%) and adhesive content of 15 wt% and 20 wt% had the mechanical properties that met the requirements of Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) A 5908 type 18. Sugar palm dregs have the potential to be used as raw materials to create value-added particleboards.