Optimization of admixture and three-layer particleboard made from oil palm empty fruit bunch and rubberwood clones

Empty fruit bunch (EFB) is a biomass that is widely available and has the potential to be used as industrial raw material especially in wood-based industries. This study focuses on producing a particleboard by incorporating EFB with two different rubberwood clones: Prang Besar (PB) 260 and RRIM 2002, respectively. PB 260 is a commercially planted clone and wood from matured (>25 year-old) trees are used by wood-based panel manufacturers. RRIM 2002 is a new clone planted at the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) research trial plots and consists of only 4-year-old trees. Two types of particleboards (admixture and three-layer) with different ratios were produced. The Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS-5908 2003 particleboard) was used to evaluate mechanical and dimensional stability properties of the particleboards. From the study, it was found that admixture particleboards showed superior properties compared to three-layer particleboards. Layering EFB and rubberwood significantly decreased board performance for all properties (except internal bonding). The optimum ratios of EFB and both rubberwood clones are found to be 1:1 (50% EFB: 50% rubberwood). Meanwhile, increasing the rubberwood clones ratio to 70% lowered board performance especially for EFB (30%):RRIM 2002 clone (70%) boards which showed the lowest values for all properties for both admixture and three-layer board

Process Heat Exchanger Network Integration and Decomposition via Clustering Approach

This paper presents a novel method for process heat exchanger network integration and decomposition: Clustering Approach. The objective of this new approach is to reduce the complexity of the integrated structure, construction and maintenance cost simultaneously. The main idea of this approach is to divide the original system into two or more clusters (subsystems) under several optimisation constrains such as piping and other investment cost, hot and cold stream matches. The results of utilities and investment cost for both original and clustered system are compared. The outcome of this study indicates effectiveness, potential and further application of the novel method. © 2012 Elsevier B.V