Compressed straw panels are not new. The process for producing "Compressed Agricultural Fiber" panels was invented in Sweden in 1935 by Theodore Dreden, then developed into a commercial product in Britain under the name Stramit by Forsten Mossesson in the late 1940's.Success in strawboard manufacturing, however, has been somewhat limited because the technology used has been based on wood panel manufacturing.

The CARIBOARD SYSTEM recognizes that wood panels and strawboard are two different entities and our approach has been to perfect the technology of strawboard manufacturing by concentrating on the development of resin/fiber bonding.This is a natural development for Cariboard because of our resin/fiber background of 150 years.

For the past 20 years, Caristrap has been working to develop an Engineered Environmental Cariboard which can be described as agricultural waste fibers embedded into resin to form particle board (PB), oriented strand board (OSB), medium density fiber board (MDF) or high density fiberboard (HDF).

The cellulosic fibers, such as bamboo, hemp shives, rice husks, miscanthus, cotton stalks, gigan reed, alfa grass, grainstraw, bagasse is the base of the panel.These fibers will be mixed in an extruded with a catalyst made essentially of resin.Particle board is used for furniture, oriented strand board is used for building and medium density fiberboard is used to make finer furniture and high density fiberboard is used for flooring.We will produce both MDF and HDF.

We can even find that MDF / HDF has advantages over wood because it is free from natural faults.Therefore, it has high dimensional stability and is available in large size panel.

These new panels and boards have the potential to replace wood-based boards. Cariboard^® proven to be of higher quality and lighter than wood-based boards.Above all, Cariboard^® does not contain formaldehyde (UF, PF, MFD or MUF) resins.Therefore, the boards produced with the Cariboard method are free from any dangerous resins.

The success of the project depends mainly on the right selection and implementation of technology, in order to produce what the market demands.The project will mainly consists of goods and services; goods in the form of equipment, materials such as resin fiber mixtures, construction of the plant, rolling stock and communication tools, and services in the form of technology transfer in the areas of developing catalyst, operations, maintenance, marketing, management, personnel training and distribution.

Process equipment to convert the raw material to medium density fibreboard (MDF) or high density fibreboard (HDF) will have to be procured from our specialized source and set up in the plant.This will include the following main items : conveyors, agro choppers, dryers, resin storage tanks, and pumps, mills, refiners, extruders, board cookers and accumulators, sanders, stackers, compressors.The adopted technology has a reduced energy consumption.

With the above installation, the ultimate output of the plant will be 150m³ / day of strawboard.It is expected that a 60 day period will be adequate to achieve startup, commissioning and full operation of the plant.Before the startup and operation period a training program will be implemented to familiarize the staff with the process details and equipment operation.This will include preventative maintenance, inspection and safety as well.During the construction phase, more specifically the installation of process equipment and electrical controls technology transfer will be achieved with certain selected personnel particularly in the utilization of advanced fiberizing technology and improved methods or drying, gluing, forming and pressing.

This element will mainly include the general coordination of the project, the construction management, the follow-up of procurement and purchases, and logistical preparation, through to complete installation of all process components as well as testing and commissioning.

The Cariboard® system is relatively inexpensive and energy efficient too! Conventional wood-based plants can be prohibitively expensive to acquire. And the costs don't stop there. Wood waste is essentially wet. It requires a separate drying process which, in turn, requires a great deal of energy. Conversely, the Cariboard® system requires a surprisingly small investment. And because it readily accepts waste 'as harvested' with only 15-18% moisture content, energy costs are negligible.

Tel: (450) 667-4700
Fax: (450) 663-1520

Email: info@cariboard.com