Yam, Kok Peng
(2019)
Unbleached Ethanolamine Empty
Fruit Bunch (Efb) Pulp As Partial
Substitution For Production Of
Autoclave Fibre Cement Composite.
PhD thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
The major raw materials for AFCC are cellulose pulp, Ordinary Portland
cement and grinded silica; mixed into slurry of 10% solid content and mostly
produced using a Hatschek machine. The increasing price of Radiata Pine pulp (up to
USD700/ton in year 2015) has force the fibre cement manufacturer to look for
alternative pulp source. EFB fibre is readily available in Malaysia and cheaper. The
unbleached Ethanolamine pulping process was selected in the study for EFB fibre
due to higher ability to retain silica content on EFB pulp surface. Radiata Pine Pulp
had superior quality in terms of fibre length, coarseness, fineness, fibre width, wet
and dry zero span. However, in terms of fibre count and macro fibrillation index,
EFB fibre showed better results. From x-ray diffraction study, silica element was
detected on EFB pulp. Recipes with 0 – 13% Radiata Pine pulp content and Cement
to silica (C/S) ratio at 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 were analyzed. The highest modulus
of rupture (MOR) was achieved at 15.5MPa using 9% pulp and 1.0 of C/S ratio. In
addition, with the increment of pulp content, impact toughness and deflection of the
composites were improved. Subsequent press sheet recipes with interval of 1% EFB
pulp content to replace the Radiata Pine pulp at 9% with C/S ratio at 1.0. The results
showed that the highest MOR values for both dry (16.7MPa) and wet (9.9MPa)
condition were obtained for blended fibre between 6 % Radiata Pine pulp with 3 %
EFB pulp. The XRD results showed that silica detected on EFB pulp and formed a
flake layer of crystal on EFB pulp surface after autoclaving process. Thus, EFB pulp
is suitable as partial substitution for AFCC.
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