Production of particle boards from bioresources

Particle boards of 1.2 cm thickness were prepared from rubber seed pod, cashewnut shell, and their blends, using an adhesive resin based on cashewnut-shell liquid. Performance evaluation showed that the boards satisfied the ASTM specifications for construction-grade building boards. The bending strength, water resistance and swelling ratio of the boards were better than those obtained for a commercial board. The results also showed that cashewnuts can be fully exploited by production of cashewnut-shell liquid for adhesive resins and spent shells which can be used as a source of lignocellulosic material for particle boards.