Properties of particleboard bond with rice bran and polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate adhesives

Rice straw can be used as a fiber source for the manufacture of particleboards. Polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (PMDI) is widely used as an adhesive for manufacturing such products. PMDI has the ability to bind rice straw despite the wax present on the surface of the straw. Its relatively high cost, petroleum origin, and toxicity in its uncured state are concerns to the rice particleboard industry. A less expensive and environmentally friendly rice bran adhesive may be used to replace a portion of PMDI and still give quality products. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of particleboard bond with rice bran based adhesive. In this experiment, rice bran adhesive (RBA) was used to replace 10, 20, and 30% of PMDI adhesive. The properties of the resulting mixed adhesive products were then evaluated and compared with particleboard bond with only PMDI. Up to 30% of the PMDI could be replaced with RBA to yield products with properties similar to those of PMDI bond particleboard.