52 | Sector Focus: Panel Products
140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0
1995
Plywood
Particleboard
OSB
MDF/HDF
2000 2005 Year Above left, figure 1: Historical, global production of wood-based panels based on data published by FAOSTAT
Above right, figure 2: A small sample of randomly selected particles intended for the core layer of a particleboard. If you study the photograph, then you will see many softwood particles, some hardwood, some particleboard, plywood, some plastic and particles of fibreboard
2010
2015
2020
◄ recovered wood piles sampled in France by the EcoReFibre project is currently 19%. This is low compared to the average moisture content of 23% observed by other researchers. The difference is probably explained by the fact that nearly half of the measurements were obtained from PCWW piles sampled in May-July, ie hot months. In contrast, samples collected in January had an average moisture content of 32%. The round wood used to make particleboard tends to be small diameter, coming from thinnings and treetops. Such wood tends to contain a lot of sapwood, which has a high moisture content. For example, the moisture content of the sapwood of most softwoods is in excess of 100%. This is why particleboard manufacturers who use PCWW will need much less energy to dry the particles they require for their products.
CHALLENGES OF RECYCLED FIBREBOARD USE IN NEW PARTICLEBOARD PRODUCTION The rapid and dramatic success of fibreboard, especially MDF, has increased the proportion of fibreboard in the PCWW stream. This is
Approximately 81 million cubic metres of MDF waste will be
created across the globe during 2025. This volume is not far off the volume of new MDF made in the same year. This is a lot of waste that should be recycled Dr Mark Irle
problematic for particleboard manufacturers because fibreboard breaks into non-ideal particles in terms of shape, surface roughness and internal fissures, as can be seen in figure 2. Consequently, fibreboard particles create zones of weakness in particleboards. Adding more adhesive and/or pressing the particleboards to higher densities can ensure adequate mechanical properties, but both solutions increase production cost. Therefore, more PCWW could be incorporated into particleboards if the
fibreboard was removed before final chipping. The EcoReFibre project is directly addressing this problem. The project is transferring previous research on particle sorting to make a sorting line that can remove most of the deleterious fibreboard particles at commercial production speeds.
There is surprisingly little data on PCWW streams. We do not know for sure how much is generated in Europe nor how much fibreboard is present in it.
The proportion of fibreboard present in the waste stream is dependent on: (1) The historical consumption of fibreboard and (2) The life-span of products containing fibreboard. The EcoReFibre project has collected data on these two factors so that it can model how much waste fibreboard should be present.
ECOREFIBRE MODEL It is highly likely that a large part of fibreboard waste found in Europe will be derived from fibreboard panels made there. Some additional fibreboard, however, will be consumed via imported products, for example toys, craft products like boxes and frames,
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
010 20 30 Years after production 40 50
120 100 80 60 40 20 0
Annual MDF production Production model Waste model
2025, 81
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Year
Above left, figure 3: A curve showing when MDF panels made in 2015 will become waste Above right, figure 4: Global MDF production, based on data published by FAOSTAT, and the resultant MDF waste generated TTJ | May/June 2025 |
www.ttjonline.com
2020
2030
Proportion as waste
Production volume (m3
) millions
Global annual volumes (m3
) millions
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