Research Articles

The unit density value is a key quality index for pellet feed production. This study presents an experimental evaluation of the unit density for the pelletizing of caragana and corn straw, under different levels of technological parameters, including moisture content, weight ratio of caragana, and particle size. Results showed that these three parameters of raw materials affected unit density. Through orthogonal test and extreme variance analysis, it was shown that the various moisture content and weight ratio of caragana had a significant effect on the density of pellets, and the influencing factors were ranked as moisture content > weight ratio of caragana > particle size of the materials. In compliance with industry standards, optimizations of the parameters resulted in a granulation density of 1.15 g/cm³ with particle size of 5 mm, moisture content of 13.4% and weight ratio of caragana of 24.8%.

In this research, a novel mineral-based composite board was developed using gypsum as a mineral binder and rice straw as a readily available agro-based resource. The study involved two key phases: Phase 1: The preliminary assessment of rice straw-gypsum composite involved integrating different ratios of rice straw into gypsum to examine the influence of rice straw integration on the composite board’s performance. The specific proportions used were 90:10%, 80:20%, and 70:30% for rice straw to gypsum. Phase 2: Reinforcement with bacterial nanocellulose fibers. In the subsequent phase, gypsum board composites containing 10%, 20%, and 30% rice straw were further enhanced by the addition of bacterial nanocellulose fibers at 1% and 3% levels. The results indicated a significant influence of rice straw incorporation on the physical and mechanical properties of the panels. The composite boards with 3% bacterial nanocellulose fiber gel exhibited the highest mechanical performance, with values of 13.5 MPa for modulus of rupture, 4650 MPa for modulus of elasticity, and 0.79 MPa for Internal Bond. The study revealed that the adverse effects of rice straw substitution on the mechanical properties and thickness swelling of the panels could be mitigated to a certain extent by incorporating nanocellulose fibers.

To guarantee the uniformity of the flow field within an equilibration chamber during the process of hot air baking and to elevate the quality of high-density wood panels, an in-depth analysis was conducted, focusing on the impact of various factors such as the number of side air inlets in the chamber, the spacing between panel gaps, and the configuration of the bottom air inlet spacing. The aim was to optimize the structural parameters to enhance the uniformity of temperature and wind speed. The results indicated that the factors influencing the flow field uniformity within the equilibration chamber were, in descending order of importance, the number of side inlets, the spacing between the bottom inlets, and the distance between the plate gaps. In addition, the optimized hot air increased the average velocity by 0.16 m/s and the average temperature by 6.44K. The percentage of boards passing the inspection of its substandard products was only 9.2%, an improvement of 11.8 percentage points, and the average moisture content was also reduced to 8.76%. The simulation and analysis program effectively improved the uniform distribution of temperature and air velocity in the equilibration chamber and improved the quality of panel production. Therefore, the adoption of this solution helps to achieve efficient drying of wood-based panels and reduce costs.