MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) is a dry process fibreboard, i.e. the fibres are dried prior to forming and hot-pressing the mattress. It is commonly used for furniture, floorings and products that are shaped by machines, e.g. mouldings (EPF, 2023). Many of the products have relatively short product lifespans. The short lifespans are linked to fashion changes rather than a lack of technical performance. Irle et al. (2018) propose an average lifespan of 14 years and that 99% of any given year’s production of MDF will become waste within 45 years. One task of the EcoReFibre project is to verify this average lifespan.
MDF has experienced extraordinary success; very few people knew about MDF in the 1980s and now it is the second most produced panel in the World (FAOSTAT, 2023). This rapid expansion in global production capacity combined with short product lifespan has caused fibreboard to make-up an ever increasing proportion of waste wood. Unfortunately, the presence of fibreboard particles tends to a have a negative impact on the physical and mechanical properties of particleboards made with recovered wood (Martins et al., 2007). The EcoReFibre project will demonstrate technical solutions for the growing presence of fibreboard in the waste wood stream by: (1) developing and demonstrating a particle sorting machine that will supply three streams of (a) solid wood (b) fibreboard and (c) the rest (principally particleboard, OSB and plywood); (2) incorporate fractions 1a and 1b into new and novel products; (3) verify the environmental impacts of the method of processing recovered wood.
The EcoReFibre project will gather information on the quantities of waste fibreboard generated in Europe now and in the coming years. The predictions require information on the apparent consumption of fibreboard in Europe and the lifespans of MDF-based products. Verification of the predictions will be based on measurements of the proportion of fibreboard currently present in waste wood. This short paper provides a brief overview of this aspect of the project.
Keywords: MDF, fibreboard, recycling, particleboard
Authors
Flore Lebreton
Ecole Supérieure du Bois, Nantes, France
Mark Irle
Ecole Supérieure du Bois, Nantes, France
Christophe Belloncle
Ecole Supérieure du Bois, Nantes, France
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