TRADA Technology Ltd has acknowledged for some time the need to remove materials such as MDF and particleboard from the waste stream and recycle the wood fibre/chip content into new panels or other products.
Estimates suggest that the furniture sector alone is generating around six million tonnes of woodwaste annually, with a high percentage of wood based panel products. If ever there were a good case for recycling, this is it.
However, because wood based sheet materials are often bonded with resin or coated with finishes, they cannot be recycled as efficiently or cost-effectively as solid timber. Wear on tools and poor chip quality add to the obstacles. And only a tiny volume of panels waste is used as fuel. For the rest, there is no viable alternative to landfill.
The results of a TRADA Technology-led research project, which started last year, could offer a solution. The EnviroFibre project centres on the Fibresolve process, developed by Fibresolve Ltd, to recover wood fibre/chip content from MDF and particleboard.
Huge volumes
Project manager Stephen Riddiough said TRADA Technology was keen to investigate this innovative process because it could return potentially huge volumes of wood fibre to panel manufacturing. The project has evolved from a number of small prototype reactors to the Mark III laboratory-scale recovery reactor. Trial manufacture of small MDF panels from recovered MDF fibre have proved successful and the next stage, to develop a large-scale plant with a 1-2 tonne capacity, is under way.
The recovery process consists of a cycle of alternating pressure and vacuum, during which pressurised steam is injected into the reactor. To accelerate breakdown, the board material is agitated at intervals and a small amount of wetting agent is injected during the operation. Most coatings or laminates are removed from the board material in large pieces, which makes them easy to separate from the recovered fibre/chip. The discharged materials can then be screened using a rotary trommel to produce usable wood fibre/chip, with the waste coating separated out.
“Sending MDF and particleboard to landfill ought to become a thing of the past,” said Mr Riddiough. “The Fibresolve process has real potential to deliver recycling in place of disposal.”
