Preliminary Study of the Biorefinery Concept to Obtain Furfural and Binder-less Panels from Hemp (Cannabis Sativa L.) Shives

The objective of the study was to investigate the preliminary technological parameters for obtaining furfural and binder-less panels depending on hydrothermal pre-treatment temperature, steam explosion treatment and pressing conditions. If the pre- treatment temperatures were 160–180 °C and the time 90 min, the yield of furfural was 64.8–67.2% from that which was theoretically possible. The furfural obtaining dynamics significantly increases in the first 10 minutes, when the yield of furfural at 180 °C is almost twice as high as at 160 °C. The obtained maximal MOE value (3250 N mm-2) and good enough surface of some panels demonstrate that all prepared hemp shives materials can be used for binder-less panel production. The obtained excellent correlation between MOE and MOR values (r = 0.9) demonstrates that the strength of the composites could be predictable.