Manufacturing, Modeling and Functionality Testing of Coffee Husk Chipboard

Abstract

Coffee husk is the outer membrane of coffee bean that obtain during processing of coffee cherries. It is considered as a short fibers and can be used in place of wood particle for chipboard manufacturing because it contain the same basic composition with wood but differ in percentages. This residue most of the time considered as fertilizer released to the farmers land. But researchers identify that it have less fertilizer value and less usable as food for cattle. The study area of the thesis is functionality test of coffee husks for manufacturing chipboards. These chipboards are made from only coffee husks and coffee husk - wood particle glued by ureaformaldyde resins. These are done by calculating volume fraction of the particle and resin in the mixture. After manufacturing, important physical tests (the density, moisture content, water absorption and thickness swelling) and some mechanical tests of the chipboards are analyzed. Mathematical modeling of MOE and life span of the coffee husk boards. Also Solid work software simulation to analyze bending and compression strength properties of the chipboard. From experimental result the boards are medium density that are commercial standards. The more moisture content value of coffee husk chipboards can be traced back to the hygroscopic behavior of the coffee husk. The hardness test measured using Rockwell hardness shows the board made from coffee husks - wood particle is harder than pure coffee husk chipboard. The bending and compression strength obtained from simulation is almost similar to the result obtained by different researchers. The life span of the chipboard is service time of the board and depend on three major factors such as load, temperature and moisture content and decrease with the increment of these factors and prone to degradation of the chipboard. At the end the result of the work conclude that coffee husk can be alternative raw material for chipboard manufacturing industries.