'US0083891 1052 2) United States Patent (10 Patent No: US 8,389,110 B2 oy ey @y 63) oy (2) (58) (56) Liu (45) Date of Patent: Mar. 5, 2013 COMPOSITIONS FOR PREPARING PLANT FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS FIBER COMPOSITES AND PLANT FIBER Ge fotos ean COMPOSITES PREPARED FROM THE SAME, * cited by examiner Inventor: Hslen-Cheng Liu, Kaohsiung County (rw) Primary Examiner — Jennifer Chriss Assistant Examiner — Camie Thompson Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the teem ofthis 2 (74) Attornes, Agent, or Firm — Prenkel & Associates, PC pateat is extended or adjusted under 35 USC. 1540) by 249 days. on ABSTRACT Appl. No 13/018,491 Provided s composition for preparing plant fiber composite Filed: Feb 1,2011 tas, hy weight hasod on the whole composition: a plant her ‘nv material nan amount ranging from 6 Prior Publication Data ‘uiliary in an amount ranging from 10% to 30%; and a eo ete cr aldtve in amount ranging from 10% Int.€ Ba2R 2102 (2006.01) 208 9706 (2006.01) us.cl. 428/292.4; 264/141; 9231128; 2447 Field of Classification Search None Jeonlainer. packing materials for sricultural products, soadling ays, or Id of building, decoration and ‘See application file for complete search history. References Cited substi for inert US. PATENT DOCUMENTS 200s01ses4l AL* 7/2008 Tanaka aosas7 20 Claims, No DrawingsUS 8,389,110 B2 1 COMPOSITIONS FOR PREPARING PLANT. FIBER COMPOSITES AND PLANT FIBER COMPOSITES PREPARED FROM THE SAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION |. Field ofthe Invention ‘The invention relates to a plant fiber composite derived With progressing of modern society and rapid develop- meat of industry, overwhelming use of plastic materials indeod brings vast conveniences to human lie, but is also accompanied with heavy pollution to the environment and hampers human health and daily life. Furthermore, cost of plastie materials keeps increasing with rising of ol pricesand ‘decreasing nature resources. ‘On the other hand, high usage of paper in culture industries ‘and usiness promotes deforestation. Also, carbon dioxide is realy influenced and grec house effet is exacerbated, “To overcome the shortcomings, the present iwention pro- vides composition for preparing a plant fiber compositeand plant fiber composite prepared from the composition o mii Bate or obviate the aforementioned problems SUMMARY OP THE INVENTION ‘There is an wngent nocd to find materials to substitte foe plastie and paper materials ss food containers, wrappers for packing electronic products, Jor eulturing plant seedlings, n tions and furiture. Toachievethe forgoing objective, in one aspect, the present Jnvention provides a composition fora plant fiber composite hich comprises, by weight based onthe whole composition: ‘plant fiber nw material in an mount ranging fom 60% 10 80°65, ‘starch auviiary in an amount ranging from 10% to 30% ‘an 1 biological polymer additive in an amount ranging fom 10% 10.20%, wherein the biological polymer additive Jncludes plant homnone, enzyme, vinegar and ester of lactic seid Preferably, the plant fber raw material sin an amount of 70M%: the starch auxiliary isin an amount of 10%; and the biological polymer additive is in an amount of 20%, hy ‘wight based on the whole composition, In another aspect, the present invention also provides a method for preparing plant fer composite, comprising steps of ‘mixing the compositions described above to foem a mix ‘ure, wherein the biological polymer additive includes plant hormone, enzyme, vinegar and ester of lst acids ‘Kneading and compressing the mixture ata temperature between 90 and 120° Cina pressurized and closed environ- ‘ment fo obtain kneaded mixture: nd ‘exiniing and gramolaing the knended mixture to form mixed granules to obtain the plant fiber composite 0 o 2 Preferably, the method in aecondance with the pres invention further comprises cooling the mixed graaules to an ‘appropriate temperate and sieving through a sieve with an “appropriate pore size to obtained the plant fiber composite aller the mixed granules are formed, In the method of the present invention, the appropriate ‘temperature is preferably between 25° C. and 45°; and more preferably 30° C Preferably cooling the granules to an appropriate tempera tore includes blowing dry the granules to cool 19 30° C, According to the present invention, the appropriate pore size ranges from 2mm to 4mm, for obtaining granules With fan average diamter of 3mm, ‘According to the present invention, the plant fber raw material refers to any substance containing plant fiber. Pre erably, the plant fiber raw material is selected from the group ‘consisting of sta, sugarcane residue, maize eore, coconut shel, rice husk, wheat bran, sorghum bran, peanot shell, eaves, bamboo leaves, timber dust, bamboo stem dust and combination thereof. ‘According to the present iwenton, the starch auxiliary refers to substance containing starch. Preferably, the starch auiliary is selected from the group consisting of powder of ried sweet potato, potato, maize and combinations thoreo. Preferably, the biological polymer additive includes plant hormone, enzyme, vinegar and ester of lati seid ‘More preferably, the biological polymer akltve is com> posed ofa plant hormone, an enzyme, a vinegar and an ester of lactic acid ‘According 10 the present invention, the plant hormone refers to chemical that regulates plant growth ‘According tothe present invention, the vinegar refers to acide liquid obtained form fermentation of biological mate- ‘als, which includes but not limited to fermentation mixtare ‘obtained by crushing, boiling and fermenting rie husks and rice grains “According to the present invention, Kneading and com- pressing tle mixture na pressurized and closed environment ‘o obizina kneaded mixture includes sting the mixture i a sealed chamber to obtain the kneaded mixtre ‘According to the present invention, extruding and granu Jating the kneaded mixture o form mixed granules to obtain plant fiber composite includes any applicable technique for plastie granulation known inthe ar. "According to the present invention, the pore size of the sive ranges from 2 mm to 4 mm. Preferably, the plant fiber ‘composite has a diameter of about 3 ma. The present invention also provides plant fiber compos ite, which is prepared from the composition and by the method as described above “According othe present ite has a melting point preferably between 80 and 95°C. mone preferably 85°C. "According o the present invention, the plant fiber eompos- itehas a Shore hardness preferably beween 90 and 100 FSD; and more preferably, 96 SD. "According the presen invention, the plant fiber eompos= ite has a tensile strenguh preferably between 100 kg/cm and 200 ky/em*; and more preferably, bout 160 kg/cm’. "According to the present invention, the plant fiber compo ite as elongation rate preferably between 600% and 900%; And more preferably, about 780%. "According othe presen invention, the plant fiber eompos= ite has tear strength preferably between 35 kglem® and 50 ‘kylem*; and more preferably 45 ky wention, the plant fiber compo randUS 8,389,110 B2 3 According tthe present invention, te plant fbereompos ite has foaming cate preferably between 2 and 5 times; and sore preferably 3 times “According tothe present invention, the plan fbereompos ite hag a flexural suength between 400 kylen” and 500 kafem's and more preferably 438 kylem* According tthe present invention, the plan fiber compos: ite has. flexural modulus between 33000 kgm” and 38000 gfe" and more preferably 35810 ken “The composition of the present invention has several ‘advantages, because vinegar a use herby can ste es fn plant hormone as used ersby in combination withthe Vinegar ean promote depradation of fiber, alow ester of Tactic sci binding to enzyme ao a o activate fibers inthe ‘composition, and hep fising of tae amounts of pid mem- brane with bers in he same. Theseresults in processed fibers in the pant fiber composite i accordance With the present inventonacguirean reused sient. Meanwhile, team positon is processed without additonal Water through steps ‘ofthe methodin accordance withthe resent invention: there- 2 fore, the composition in processing will ot undergo feemen= tation and degradation by microonganism. Accordingly, prod- ucts derived from the composition in aeeordance with the present invention are more durable. “The method in aceordance with the present invention has ‘advantages of being enengy- and resource-saving and good Jor environment protection, because the method in accor ‘dance withthe present invention does not consume waterand, produces no vaste water and smoke during, production theres ‘Based on the characteristics, the plant fiber composite in socondance withthe present invention belongs to a decom- posable green material. The plan fiber composite can be used to produce dierent produets by extrusion in various models “The produced products are preven to have low susceptibility to humidity and high oor loading, be highly waterproof, stable at varied temperatures during tansportation and con: no toxic heavy metals. Therefore, it can substitute for ‘conventional plastic materials and be used as raw materials for food containers, such as fresh food tay and also ia other areas of manulseture of wrappers for packing electronic ‘devices and agriculture products, containers for culturing plant ssodlings and materials for building, dacorations and Trt (Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the mention will become more appareat fom the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the ‘accompanying drawings DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS, In the method in acoordance with the present invention, agricultural products containing plant fibers are discarded parts and used asa major raw materials inthe method of the Present invention. ‘The discarded parts are obtsined by Femoval from edible parts of agricultural products and Include fong fiber component an short fiber component. The Jong fiber component may be, but isnot limited to: straw, sugareane residue, maize core or coconut shell, which is subjected to washing o clear dust and mud, drying. chopping and pulverizing. Theshar fiber component may be, bats not Timited to: rice husk, bran of wheat or sorghum, peanot shell and leaves of tre of bamboo, or dust of timber or hamboo, which s directly subjected to pulverizing to obtain plant ber raw material. Subsequently. the plant fiber raw material, starch auniliary and biologieal polymer additive are mixed 4 ‘well and kneaded and compressed ata low temperature in a pressurized condition, and then are extruded 0 form gran- ules, cooled and sieved by a sieve with an appropriate pore size to obtain the plant fiber composite 5 "The present invention i further illustrated by the following ‘examples: it shold be understood that the examples and embodiments described herein are for ilutrative purposes ‘only and should not beconstruedas limiting the embodiments sot forth herein EXAMPLES 1. Preparation of Graaulized Plant Fiber Composite Discarded parts of several agricultural product were ‘obiained by removing from edible pats of the agricultural product and used as major raw material snd were prepared following: 70 kx rice husks were dried and pulverized to 40 10 100 ‘mesh, mixed with 10 kg sweet potato powder and 20 kg biological polymer additive containing a pat hormone, aa cemyme, a Vinegar and an ester of lntic acid ata ratio of 10:5:2 by weipht, kneaded and compressed at 110° C. and cextided to form grantles (CLLDX-1501_Dispersion_ ‘Knesden) followed by being blown at 30°C., passed trough sieve with pore size ranged from 2 mn wo 4 mm to obtain _aranules with an average diameter of 3 mm for convenience of being packed info a vacuum package, wherein granules with diameter less than 2 mm were collected, mixed and recycled to be further compressed and kneaded and gram- Jated to obtain granites ofthe plant fiber composite tobe wsed astimber ike produc. 60 kg rice husks were dried and pulverized to 100 10200 sesh, mixed with 10 kg swect potato powder and 30 ke biological polymer additive containing a plat hormone, aa cemyine, a Vinegar and an ester of lactic acid ata ratio of 10:5:2: by weight, kneaded and compressed at 110°C. and exirided to form granules (CLLDX-150L, Dispersion ‘Kneaden) followed by being blown at 30°C., passed through ‘sieve with a pore size ringed from 2 mm to 4 mm to obtain saranuleswithanaverage diameter of3 mm, wherein granules ‘with diameter less than 2 mm were collected, mixed and recycle to be further compressed and kneaded and gram lated obtain granules ofthe plant fiber composite to be used asplasticelike product. ‘The plant ber composite was further used to produce a sheet of plant fiber composite and subjected to injection ‘molding dd vacuum molding in accordace wit the know techniques in the field of mannfactare co plastic product, and ir charveteristics was further determined as fll 2. Property Analysis of the Plant Fiber Composite Granules of plant fiber composite were subjected to analy sis of physical properties (ASTM D240, ASTM D1623, USIFE and ASTM D790) and their results are shown in Table 1 TABLE 1 The pal panei oft ple o Prope Texted Typical vale Threw GRD) ___——ASTDIB «96? em feminist © Tekin del’) Ambien "821