Life Cycle Analysis of Particleboard Made of Corn Stalk and Citric Acid at Laboratory Scale

Research on particleboard fabrication using non-wood biomass as an alternative to wood particles is steadily increasing due to environmental awareness. Information on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of particleboards made of non-wood biomass and non-formaldehyde adhesives is scarce. This research presents the life cycle assessment (LCA) of particleboard fabrication made from corn stalk particles and citric acid in Indonesia and Australia at laboratory scale. Cradle-to-gate boundaries were applied with the fabrication steps involving particle preparation, citric acid solution preparation, the mixing of adhesive and particle, a hot-pressing process, and a final production process. The functional unit is a particleboard with 282 mm × 208 mm × 12 mm dimensions. The life cycle inventory data were obtained from particleboard sheet fabrication on a lab scale. Southeast Asia (Indonesia) and Southern Australia (Victoria) conditions were adopted for geographical background processes, using data from the Ecoinvent V.3.10 database. LCA calculation was conducted using the OpenLCA V.2.1.1 software. The environmental impacts were calculated using the ReCiPe Midpoint 2016 methodology. The results showed that oven drying and pre-treatment drying contributed the most to energy consumption in both regions, accounting for 97.14% at the Indonesian site and 96.49% at the Australian site. The environmental impacts in the Australian context showed higher values in 10 out of 18 categories. The five highest environmental impacts were terrestrial ecotoxicity (5.50 × 102 kg 1,4-DCB in Indonesia, 6.37 × 102 kg 1,4-DCB in Australia), global warming (2.72 × 102 kg CO2 eq in Indonesia, 2.49 × 102 kg CO2 eq in Australia), human non-carcinogenic toxicity (4.65 × 102 kg 1,4-DCB in Indonesia, 4.18 × 102 kg 1,4-DCB in Australia), water consumption (2.50 × 102 m3 in Indonesia, 4.62 × 102 m3 in Australia), and fossil resource scarcity (7.34 × 101 kg oil eq in Indonesia, 6.86 × 101 kg oil eq in Australia). Implementing solar drying and sourcing raw materials from farms closer to the production site could reduce energy consumption by up to 48.57% in Indonesia and 48.24% in Australia. These findings underscore the high energy demand of drying and the importance of site selection in particleboard production.