Combination of citric acid and maltodextrin as bonding agent in sorghum bagasse particleboard

The interest of using natural binder in particleboard production is still the primary concern of many researchers. The use of citric acid as an adhesive has been investigated and show satisfying results, especially in particleboard physical properties. However, the particleboard had low bending strength due to high content of citric acid on the particleboard affected the brittleness of the particles. Therefore, the application of citric acid in particleboard production usually combined with other natural adhesives. In this study, a combination of citric acid (CA) and maltodextrin (MD) was used in the production of sorghum bagasse particleboard with a ratio of 1:1. The particleboard was produced with a target density of 0.8 g/cm3, using 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% CA-MD content, hot-pressed at 200°C and 5 MPa for 8 or 10 minutes. The mixture of citric acid and maltodextrin (1:1) was successfully acting as bonding agent in sorghum bagasse particleboard production, mainly when used at 30% adhesive content. The particleboard modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity, fulfilled the standard of type 8 particleboard, according to JIS 5908. The particleboard physical properties were excellent, proved by the value of particleboard thickness swelling, which was under 12%. This is due to the superb bonding from the combination of citric acid and maltodextrin, as shown by the internal bond values, which exceeded 0.3 N/mm2, the minimum requirement for type 18 particleboards based on JIS A 5908.