Production and Properties of Erosion Control Mats From Bagasse.109132756

7/23/2019 Production and Properties of Erosion Control Mats From Bagasse.109132756

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Journal of ASSCT, Vol. 29, 2009, p. 53

PRODUCTION AND PROPERTIES OF SOIL EROSION CONTROL

MATS MADE FROM SUGARCANE BAGASSE

I. Dinu1and M.Saska2

1Graduate student, Department of Biological Engineering and Audubon Sugar Institute

2Professor, Audubon Sugar Institute, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, St.Gabriel, LA 70776

Submitted for publication in Journal of American Society of Sugarcane TechnologistsFebruary 9, 2007

ABSTRACT

The market for mats and blankets made from natural fibers is a rapidly growingsegment of the erosion control industry. In south Louisiana, bagasse is a local, readilyavailable material with properties that make it suitable for erosion control products. In theframework of work towards diversifying the sugarcane industry, a prototype of a simplecontinuous device to produce erosion control mats was built and tested. Rectangular matsof1.2 m x 2.4 m (4 x 8 ft) size were produced from bagasse that had been modified byimpregnation with dilute liquor of soda ash and by partial mechanical refining. Theeffects of the alkali treatment on the bagasse fibers were evaluated by thermo-gravimetrical analysis. The physical properties of bagasse mat samples were tested withAmerican Society for Testing and Materials and Erosion Control Technology Councilmethods and compared with those reported by manufacturers of leading commercial

products. The absence of netting in the bagasse products results in a lower tensilestrength but should prove advantageous from the environmental impact standpoint. Theavailability of sufficient quantities of sugarcane bagasse and the proximity to marketsshould be significant factors for the competitiveness of the bagasse products in the localmarket.

Keywords: erosion control, soil erosion, sugarcane, sugar cane bagasse, erosion

mats, agricultural fibers.

INTRODUCTION

The erosion control industry uses various types of geo-synthetics in order tomitigate the negative impact that erosion has on the environment [1]. One of the mostrapidly growing sectors within this industry is the market for erosion mats and blankets.The first rolled erosion control products were jute nettings imported from Asia but as thedemand grew a wide range of products were developed with varying compositions andstructures [1, 2]. Natural fiber products such as wood, straw and coconut predominatebecause of their biodegradability, moisture-holding ability and environmental friendlyimage [3]. A comparable natural fiber available in south Louisiana is sugarcane bagasse.


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In the previous program at Louisiana State University [4, 5] long rind fiber

bundles were used to hand-produce one square-yard samples of erosion mats. The rindportion of the sugarcane stalk was stripped from cane billets with a cane separator, thenfiberized by cooking with sodium hydroxide under pressure and steam explosion.

Laboratory tests involved a comparison of the bagasse mats with commercial wood,coconut and straw products. Sugarcane mats had the highest bio-degradability, wereintermediate in thickness and specific weight and had the lowest strength and lightpenetration among the tested products. They also burned slower and 70% of the samplesself-extinguished. In cooperation with the Louisiana Transportation Research Center, afield test was organized along Interstate 10 to measure grass penetration and slopeprotection. The sugarcane mats with no stitching maintained their integrity even duringheavy rains, while coconut mats shrank after the first rain. However, because of theirlower light penetration, both products had lower germination rates than straw and woodproducts. Nevertheless, the overall performance was deemed to be in compliance withregulations required on state road construction projects [4, 5].

The main goal set for the present work was to develop and demonstrate acontinuous and easy to scale process for production of rolled soil erosion mats using mill-run bagasse, preferably after minimum processing. That way the process could beimplemented in a facility next to a sugar mill, thus providing economic benefit to theindustry and a local source of soil erosion products. Additional objectives weredetermination of biodegradability and flame resistance of bagasse mats and comparisonwith other commercial products. Sodium carbonate rather than sodium hydroxide was tobe considered the reagent of choice because of its lower cost and easier handling.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Raw mill-run bagasse with 30 40% moisture was obtained from the storage pileoutside one of the local mills. Attempts at forming mats from bagasse without any priorchemical treatment failed as the particles were found to be too coarse and stiff, with nocohesion once formed into a mat. Pulping bagasse with hot alkali is a well establishedprocess that frees the cellulose fibers by solubilizing some of the lignin andhemicellulose. The treatment in this work (Table 1) is an equivalent of soda pulping butcarried out at milder conditions (100C, 1% Na2CO3liquor) because complete pulping isnot required.


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Figure 1 Rind pieces in mill-run bagasse (scale in inches).

Mill-run bagasse may contain incompletely shredded cane rind (Figures 1 and 3) thatwould interfere with mat formation. The large pieces were removed with a 2.5 cm meshscreen. The mild alkali treatment only softens the fibers and it was found that partial

mechanical refining of at least a portion of the alkali treated bagasse was beneficial toimprove mat cohesion. A single pass of one third of the alkali treated bagasse through a20 cm diameter Bauer Brothers single disk refiner with a 0.05 cm plate gap was foundsufficient. The partially refined fibers were then mixed with the non-refined bagasse andused to form the mat (Figure 2). The partial refining not only reduces the fiber width butalso releases some bagasse pith that contributes to the cohesion of the fibers once formedinto the mat.

Figure 2 Block diagram of the bagasse mat production process

The large rind pieces in bagasse come from incomplete shredding of the cane prior tojuice extraction. The extent of the mechanical and possibly even the chemical treatmentcould therefore be adjusted depending on the actual quality of the bagasse that is beingprocessed. Bagasse samples from three different mills (Figure 3) shows better fiberuniformity in the samples from Texas and Florida.

Raw bagasse

Soda ashimpregnation

Water

Na2CO3

Mechanical refining

Mat formation

Water

Sugar mill wastewater treatment

Drying

Storage

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Raw bagasse

Soda ashimpregnation

Water

Na2CO3

Mechanical refining

Mat formation

Water

Sugar mill wastewater treatment

Drying

Storage

1/3

2/3


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Figure 3 Comparison of bagasse samples from three different mills (scale ininches).

After several preliminary designs, a 1.2 m (4 ft) wide mat production prototypewas designed and built (Figure 4). The bagasse that was added manually into the tank (1)is kept in suspension by the flow of water (11) and mechanical mixers (2). The waterflow rate (11) was adjusted such as to supply an even overflow (3) of the bagasse slurryonto the moving mesh (4).

Figure 4 Schematic of the main components and dimensions of the mat

12

2 1

4 3

7 2

3 1

9

2 89

12

4 0

1

109

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

11


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formation prototype machine

For the belt (4), a vinyl-coated polyester fabric with a 1.5 mm mesh size wasfound suitable, allowing rapid drainage of water but retaining all the fibers. Two PVCrollers (5) compress and squeeze some of the excess moisture out of the mat. The rubber

coated roller (6) was driven by a variable speed motor (8). The excess water flowsthrough the mesh into a collection tank (9) and can be recycled into the process. The wetfibers have little cohesion. Therefore, another, support mesh (7) which is identical to thefirst one was used to support the wet mat as it is being removed off the moving belt andtransferred to dry. The thickness of the mat is affected by the rate at which fibers areadded in the feed tank, the water flow rate and the belt speed. The operating parameterslisted in Table 2 were found to give good and reproducible performance.

Table 1 Batch conditions for bagasse fiber preparation.

Water 200 L

Na2CO3 2 kg

Raw bagasse for treatment 15 kgTreatment time 90 min

Temperature 100 C

Figure 5 The mat formation process: bagasse fibers are added manually into the feedtank and the bagasse slurry overflows onto the moving mesh belt forming the mat.

Table 2 Mat formation operating parameters

Tank volume 170 l

Belt length 3 m

Belt speed 0.24 0.6 m/min

Water flow 100 200 L/min

Time to form one 2.5 m long mat ~12 min


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Figure 6 A partially rolled and dried bagasse mat.

After formation, the 2 to 3 m long mats were air-dried while supported by the mesh(Figure 6). Once dry, they could be peeled off the support and rolled. During the matformation on the moving mesh, fiber stratification takes place. The finer pith particlespenetrate through the longer fibers but are mostly retained by the support mesh.Therefore, the mats tend to have a two-layered structure (Figure 7) with most of the pithat the bottom of the mat, while the larger fibers are on the top. The bottom pith layercontributes to the cohesion and strength of the mat.

Figure 7 The bottom of the mat (A) with most of the pith and thetop (B) composedmostly of coarse fibers (scale in inches).

RESULTS AND DISSCUTIONS

Evaluation of the effects of alkaline treatment on bagasse fibers

Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to evaluate effects of the chemicaltreatment on bagasse fibers. Two samples were used for comparison: raw (untreated)

A B


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bagasse fibers and the fibers recovered from finished mats. The air-dried samples wereground with a Wiley mill with a 0.5 mm screen and the undersize fractions analyzed witha Mettler Toledo TGA/SDTA851

eanalyzer. Samples of 10 to 20 mg were heated from

40C to 700C at 10C/min, then kept isothermal for 10 min under N2and then ashed for10 min under air at the same temperature. For reference, relatively pure samples of

cellulose (Avicell from FMC BioPolymer), lignin (Granit, SA) and hemicellulose (oatspelts xylan from Sigma Chemical) were also analyzed. Hemicellulose is the leastthermally stable of the three with the onset of decomposition at 279C (Table 3), whilethe onset of decomposition for cellulose is at 319C.

Table 3 The onset, weight loss, char and ash values for the pure compounds and treatedand untreated bagasse samples.

Onset of

decomposition

(C)

Weight loss at

400C (%)

Char (%) Ash (%)

Cellulose 319 78 11 0.5

Hemicellulose 279 63 24 6.9

Lignin 296 36 31 1.3

Untreated bagasse 282 291 58 60 28-30 13 16

Treated Bagasse 292 294 64 66 20-23 3 6

The lignin decomposes over a wide temperature range, between 200C to about

500 C. These observations are broadly in line with the values reported in the literature[6, 7, 8, and 13] but the exact values are affected by the temperature gradient, the sourceand purity of the compounds and other experimental factors.

The derivative thermo-gravimetric (DTG) profiles of hemicellulose and cellulose(Figure 8) display distinct maxima at 308 and 360C. The DTG curves (Figure 9) of thetreated and untreated bagasse samples show peaks from the loss of residual moisture atbelow 100C and cellulose decomposition at 360-370C. The shoulder at about 300C onthe untreated sample curve corresponds to decomposition of hemicellulose but is absentin the curve of treated bagasse.


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Figure 8 Comparison for the TGA curves (top) and DTG curves (bottom) forcellulose, lignin and hemicellulose.

Figure 9 Comparison of the TGA curves (top) and DTG curves (bottom) of treated anduntreated bagasse samples.


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This is an evidence of at least a partial removal of hemicellulose in the alkali treatment.The rate of cellulose decomposition is higher in the treated than untreated sample. This isprobably related to the disruption of the cellulose network by a partial removal ofhemicellulose and lignin during the alkali treatment. Because of the broad range ofpurified lignin decomposition (Figure 8), lignin decomposition peaks are not apparent in

either treated or untreated bagasse curves. However, the higher yield of char (Table 3)from the untreated material in comparison with the treated one is an evidence of somelignin removal in the alkali treatment. This is consistent with reports [6, 7] that higherlignin content material yielded higher amount of pyrolysis char and also with the charyields obtained from the three pure compounds (Table 3) in this work. The apparentpeaks in the DTG curves in Figures 8 and 9 at 700C are artifacts from switchingbetween nitrogen and air atmosphere.

In plant tissues, lignin and hemicellulose are known to be a part of the cellulosenetwork, contributing to the strength and stiffness of the fibers. The alkali treatment usedin this work, i.e. boiling with 1% sodium carbonate for 1 hours proved suitable for their

partial removal, so that the cellulose fibers are rendered sufficiently flexible and can beformed into cohesive mats. In a separate experiment, the solubility of the pure ligninsample in a 1% sodium carbonate liquor was determined to be about 8.5 g/L.

Evaluation of the physical properties of the erosion control products

The bagasse mats were tested in accordance with the ASTM and ECTC (ErosionControl Technology Council) methods and the specifications compared (Tables 4 and 5)with those of four leading commercial products, as reported by their manufacturers ormeasured in this work.

Table 4 Details of the four commercial erosion mats used for comparison with thebagasse products.

Name Description Manufacturer

S 150 Straw, double PP net North American Green

C 125 Coconut, double PP net North American Green

Curlex I Curled wood fibers, doublePP net

American Excelsior Co.

Curlex heavy-duty Curled wood fibers, doubleheavy-duty PP net

American Excelsior Co.

Thickness of the bagasse mats can, of course, be varied, but was chosen such as to be

comparable with the commercial products. The specific mass of the bagasse mats ishigher than the S150 and C125 products, but comparable with the Curlex materials.Because of the higher density and porosity of the bagasse fibers, the water absorption ismuch higher. The swelling is about same as reported for straw (S150) and coconut(C125) mats and less than for the Curlex wood products.

The bagasse mats have a relatively low smolder resistance. Unlike the straw andcoconut mats that have a loose structure and wide spaces between fibers, bagasse mats


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are more compact with the smoldering ring of up to 10cm. The Curlex blankets for whichmanufacturers data was not available were also tested. The smoldering ring had amaximum of only 1.5cm. One sample of the S150 straw mat was also tested and found tosmolder as well, although smolder resistance is reported by the manufacturer.

Table 5 Product specifications

Property S150 C125 Curlex I Curlex

Heavy-duty

Bagasse

mats

Test

Thickness(mm)

8.13 8.91 9.14 13.72 7.5 -10 ASTM D 6525

Specificmass(g/m2)

257 271 407 841 550-850 ASTM D 6475

Waterabsorption

(%)

327 110 253 194 807-1090 ECTC (modifiedASTM D 1117)

Swell (%) 15 13 49 48 14-36 ECTC

Smolderresistance

YES YES NO NO NO ECTC

Tensilestrength(kN/m)

2.27 3.12 1.4 3.36 0.10*0.18**

ASTM D 5035

- Product data sheet [10] - Product data sheet [11] - measured in this work* - sample oriented with most fibers perpendicular to the load direction** - sample oriented with most fibers parallel with the load direction

The higher tensile strength of the commercial products stems from thepolypropylene nets imbedded in the product. For instance, the tensile strength of thepolypropylene mesh alone isolated from a commercial sample of S150 was 0.18 kN/m or80% of the reported value [10] for the complete erosion mat. In case of the bagasse mats,the strength is solely from fiber entanglement and adhesion. Because of how the wet-laidprocess was designed, the fibers are oriented mostly perpendicular to the direction of beltmovement and the tensile strength is somewhat higher along the preferred orientation ofthe fibers. The polypropylene nets that hold the fibers together are described by themanufacturers as photodegradable but their life span may be long enough to presentecological problems. There have been reports of birds and other small wildlife animals

trapped in the nets in their attempt to nest in the blankets [12]. Obviously, nets could alsobe imbedded in bagasse mats to increase their strength, but at present their absence isconsidered to be an environmental and economic advantage.


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ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS

Erosion control manufacturing is a growing industry supplying markets with avariety of products [1]. Erosion control blankets for temporary soil protection in roadconstruction projects, for levee protection and similar applications range from $0.4/m2

(straw and wood based) to $2/m

2

for polypropylene and up to $3/m

2

for imported coconutfiber products (14). At the reported 300 to 500g/m2for straw and coconut (14)

respectively, this is equivalent to about $0.8 to $2/kg. Taking the low estimate of $0.8/kgfor the prospective bagasse products, that translates to a value of about $0.4/kg or $400/tof mill-run bagasse with 50% moisture, making it potentially an attractive product for thesugarcane industry. The local Louisiana market alone is estimated at $10 to $20 millionannually, or 800 to 1,600 tons of erosion control fabrics. With a yield of 33%, based onmill-run bagasse, this would require some 2,400 to 4,800 tons or about a one to two dayproduction of bagasse in an average Louisiana sugar mill. Such a relatively small amountshould be available without any significant impact on the mills fuel balance.

CONCLUSIONS

A simple continuous wet-laid process for production of sugarcane bagasse erosionmats has been developed and demonstrated. The physical properties of the bagasse matsamples were tested according to ASTM and ECTC procedures and compared with thoseof four commercial products. The bagasse mats have comparable specific mass,thickness, and swelling, but lower tensile strength because no polypropylene netting isused and higher water absorption capacity. The absence of plastic netting is considered anadvantage from the standpoint of environmental impact and the production cost. Therelatively small volume of bagasse that would be required to satisfy the local erosioncontrol market should be readily available at the sugar mill site, providing a new business

opportunity for the sugar industry.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to thank S.Goudeau of Audubon Sugar Institute for assistancewith design and construction of the mat production prototype and I. Negulescu and X.Zhang of the LSU Department of Human Ecology for their assistance with measuringsome of the physical properties of the fibers. Partial financial support for the programcame from the award DE-FC36-04GO14236 Improved Biorefinery for the Production ofEthanol, Chemicals, Animal Feed and Biomaterials from Sugar Cane from the USDepartment of Energy.


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REFERENCES

1. Berg, R., Suits, D. Geosynthetics. Millennium Papers 1999. TransportationResearch Board of the National Academies.

2. Erosion Control Technology Council, 2005. Online resources.

(http://www.ectc.org/what.html).3. Morgan, R. C. soil Erosion and Conservation. 3rdEdition. Blackwell Publishing,

2005.4. Collier, J. Collier, B. Production and evaluation of sugarcane fiber geotextiles.

Report 2; Field Testing. Louisiana Transportation Research Center, 1997.5. Thames, J. Sugar cane fiber geotextiles. 1997, Thesis. LSU.6. Chen, Y., Sun, L., Negulescu, I., Moor, M., Collier, B. Evaluating efficiency of

alkaline treatment for waste bagasse. Journal of Macromolecular Science 2005;v.44; 397-411.

7. Orfao J., Antunes F., Figueiredo J. Pyrolysis kinetic of lignocellulosic materials three independent reaction models. Fuel 1999; v.78; 349-358.

8. Raveendran, K., Anuradda, G., Khilar, C. Pyrolysis characteristics of biomass andbiomass components. Fuel. 1996; v.75; (8), 987-998.9. Vamvuka, D., Pasadakis, N., Kastanaki, E. Kinetic Modeling of Coal/Agricultural

By-Product Blends. Energy & Fuels. 2003, v.17, 549-558.10.North American Green. Products specification sheet for S 150. Online resources.

(www.nagreen.com).11.American Excelsior Company. Product description. Curlex blankets. Online

resources. (www.curlex.com).12.Prunty, T., Johnson, W. Erosion control blanket and method of manufacture.

United States Patent: 5,786,281, 1998.13.Haiping Y., Rong, Y., Hanping, C. In-depth investigation of biomass pyrolysis

based on three major components: hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin. Energy &Fuel.2006, v.20, 388-393.14.T. Pea, Industrial Fabrics, Inc. (Baton Rouge, LA), personal correspondence.

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Production and Properties of Erosion Control Mats From Bagasse.109132756