CHARACTERISATION OF RHIZOPHORA PARTICLEBOARD USING BIO-OIL-BASED PHENOL FORMALDEHYDE (PF) RESIN

Phenol formaldehyde (PF) resin has been extensively used in various branches of industry as adhesive especially in the production of wood-based panels. However, due to the use of expensive and limited petroleum-based phenol in its formulation, there is a strong interest to explore renewable biomass material to partially substitute the phenol. In this work, slow pyrolysis was used to convert oil palm frond into bio-oil. From there, the phenol-rich fraction of the bio-oil was separated and added into the formulation of PF resin to produce an economical and environmental-friendly type of PF resin, known as bio-oil-phenolformaldehyde (BPF) resin. Rhizophora particleboard was then fabricated with the BPF resin as adhesive. The particleboard was found to display excellent mechanical and physical properties with satisfactory formaldehyde emission. A morphological study of the particleboard also supported previous findings. The corresponding atomic number of the particleboard obtained from the morphological study was compared with those of water phantom and a fascinatingly favourable similarity was observed. This finding, hence, proposed a novel higher value-added application of the Rhizophora particleboard which has been largely researched as a potential phantom material in diagnostic radiography.