Biocontainers made from lignocellulosic recycled materials: Evaluation of physical-mechanical properties.

GRACIELA B. GAVAZZO; YANINA S. AGUERRE

Congreso; 10th WORLD CONGRESS OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING - NEWSLETTER 5: PROGRAMME AVAILABLE; 2017

The aim of this work is to evaluate the physical-mechanical properties of biocontainers, designed from the combination of lignocellulosic recycled materials, in order to select an ideal container, of strong walls and low absorption capacity, suitable for plant cultivation. The purpose is to reuse a fraction of urban solids, forestry and agroindustrial waste: newspaper (ONP), office paper (OWP), corrugated cardboard (OCC), pine sawdust, eucalyptus sawdust and sugar cane bagasse as raw material to design biocontainers, as an alternative composition to those used nowadays, applying pulp molding technology. Biocontainers are known as those containers made without pollutant materials derived from petroleum, which decompose rapidly when they are buried in soil or when they are composted [1]. Biocontainers are usually classified as plantables or compostables [1]. Among the main properties that must have an ideal biocontainer, are the resistance properties, then all containers must be strong enough to support the substrate and the seedlings during the germination and growth, support irrigation conditions and nursery handling. Pulp molding technology is an attractive resource for the use of lignocellulosic raw materials, it admits different grades of pulp and it allows us to design products of semi-rigid structure, three-dimensional, of varied forms and for various uses [2]. Biocontainers were designed with optimized mixtures, which were obtained in a previous work [3]. Containers with secondary fibers alone and mixed with pine sawdust, eucalyptus sawdust and bagasse fibers were made: 100% ONP; 100% OWP; 100% OCC; 50:50% ONP:OWP; 50:50% ONP:OCC; 50:50% OWP:OCC; 30:30:40% ONP:OWP:Pine; 30:30:40% ONP:OWP:Eucalyptus; 30:30:40% ONP:OWP:Bagasse. The physical-mechanical properties of the containers were measured: thickness, specific bulk, apparent density, compressive strength and water absorption capacity, according to internal techniques. The results show that: ONP pulps decrease strength and increase absorption capacity; OWP pulps increase strength and decrease absorption capacity; OCC pulps exhibit an intermediate behavior; pine and eucalyptus sawdust decrease strength and absorption capacity; bagasse fibers decrease strength and increases absorption capacity. It is concluded that the ideal biocontainer is that made with OWP pulp in a 100%. This design results in a container of strength walls and low water absorption capacity, which will prevent the container from absorbing moisture and drying the substrate.