Kenaf grows faster than wood and is considered an environmentally friendly material. Panasonic Malaysia developed an environmentally friendly system for manufacturing kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) particleboard. The process decreased pollution, thus conserving Malaysia’s rich coral reef ecosystem. The technique for manufacturing kenaf board was originally developed in cooperation with Kyoto University using kenaf grown in China. In 2005, Panasonic succeeded in developing a process for growing kenaf in Malaysia that was suitable for manufacturing high quality kenaf particleboard. This process produces 30% waste, but the fiber is burned to provide electric power for the manufacturing plant and the ash is returned to fields to fertilize kenaf (see http://panasonic. co. jp/ism/kenaf/index. html).

Further Information

American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) Standard. D 1554 Standard Terminology Relating to Wood-Base Fiber and Particle Panel Materials. (2001)

Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) A 5908. Particleboards. (2003)

“Field survey on use of woody biomass,” Statistic Department, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery. (2006)

Statistics of Ceramics and Construction Materials, Ministry of Trade and Industry, ISBN:9784903259192. (2006)

Thomas M. Maloney, Modern Particleboard. ISBN 0-87930-063-9. Published by Miller Freeman Publications Inc. (1977)

Walter T, Kartal S. N, Hang W. J, Umemura S, Kawai S. Strength, decay and termite resistance of oriented kenaf fiberboard. J Wood Science, 53(6) 481-486 (2007)

S. Kawai, K. Ohnishi, Y. Okudaira and M. Zhang. Manufacture of oriented fiberboard from kenaf bast fibers and its application to the composite panels. The 2000 International Kanaf Symposium, p.144-148, Oct. 13-14, Hiroshima (2000)

K. Ohnishi, Y. Okudaira, M. Zhang, and S. Kawai. Manufacturing and properties of oriented medium density fiberboard from non-wood lignocellulosic fibers I. Mokuzai Gakkaishi, 46 (2) 114-123 (2000) (Japanese)

S. Suzuki. The state of the arts on current timber structures. V: The state of the arts on reuse and recycle of wooden structures. Journals of the Society of Materials Science, Japan, 53 (4) 465-470 (2004) (Japanese)