Rice Husk Particle Board Heat Insulator

by

Jethro Liam T. Bagtang

Arianna Jenfrey L. Corales
Mil S. Flores
Ryota Y. Kagimori
Irah Nathanne Tiburcio

A Research Paper Submitted to the Mapúa Senior High School Department in

Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

Research Project (RES04)

Mapúa University
April 2019

2
 APPROVAL SHEET

This is to certify that we have supervised the preparation of and read the research paper
prepared by Jethro Liam T. Bagtang, Arianna Jenfrey L. Corales, Mil S. Flores, Ryota Y.
Kagimori entitled Rice Husk Particle Board Heat Insulator and that the said research
paper has been submitted for final examination by the Oral Examination Committee.

Irah Nathanne D. Tiburcio Irah Nathanne D. Tiburcio
Adviser Adviser

As members of the Oral Examination Committee, we certify that we have examined this
research paper, presented before the committee on Month Date, Year, and hereby
recommend that it be accepted as fulfillment of the requirement for the course Practical
Research 4 (RES04).

Hazel Jean Soriano Maria Thea R. Clarin
Panel Member Panel Member

Marineil Gomez
Committee Chairman

This research paper is hereby approved and accepted by the Mapúa Senior High School
Office as fulfillment of the requirement for the course Practical Research 4 (RES04).

Dr. Lilibeth D. Sabino
Principal, Mapua Senior High School

3
4
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researchers would like to express their deepest gratitude to all people who have given

their support in making this study possible.

To Mr. Irah Tiburcio, the researcher’s adviser, for giving his utmost support

throughout

the process of devising this study, giving advice in both experimentation and

on the paper itself, assisting the researchers in using the university’s

laboratories.

To the researcher’s dearest parents for their continuous financial and moral support

To the researcher’s friend who kept on giving support and advices

And, lastly, to God, who bestowed wisdom, knowledge, patience, strength and

meeting

our necessities to accomplish this study

Sincerely,

Jethro Liam T. Bagtang

Arianna Jenfrey L. Corales
Mil S. Flores
Ryota Y. Kagimori

5
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE i

APPROVAL PAGE ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF FIGURES v

ABSTRACT vi

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

Chapter 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 5

Rice 5
Foreign Researches 6

Chapter 3: Methodology 13
Materials and Methods 13
Creation of Particle Board 14
Material Mixture 15
Data Gathering Procedure 16
Results and Discussion 18
Heat Capability 18
Hypothesis Testing 19
Specific Heat Capacity 21

Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 22

Chapter 5: RECOMMENDATIONS 23

REFERENCES 25

APPENDICES 27

LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES

Table 4.1: Percent Difference 6 18

Table 4.2: T-test 20
Table 4.3: Data of Water and Board 21
Figure 2.1: Rice Producing Places in the Philippines 5
Table 4.4: Specific Heat Data 21
Figure 3.1: Conceptual Framework 13
7
 ABSTRACT

The objective of the study was to create a rice husk particle board which can match or
surpass the capability to insulate heat of the commercially available thermal insulators, using
only rice husk, corn starch and wood glue. The particle board is made using the mechanical
method and data such as heat lost per minute, specific heat capacity, and p-value is used to
determine the capability of the rice husk particle board to insulate heat. The results have
shown that the rice husk particle board is capable of surpassing the performance of the
existing available insulators in terms of insulating heat.

Keywords: mechanical method, specific heat capacity

8
 Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

There are around 700 million tons of rice being produced around the world as

reported by António et al. (2018). It is widely being consumed by everyone around the world,

especially in the Philippines. After harvesting rice crop from the farms, it is being cleaned by

grading, because it has impurities and contaminants (Jamil & Bejo, 2014). After grading the

rice, the rice itself and its husks are produced. When improper disposal of rice husks are

done, such as dumping them into ponds and streams, they become a huge quantity of waste

which can pollute the environment; affect aquatic life; and contribute to health problems

(Carig et al., 2016). Based on the research done by Rodriguez (2013), rice husk is a waste

product that is produced by grading the rice. It is used for numerous purposes and in various

applications, because rice is being produced all over the world, there are problems that need

to be addressed in order for us to find a solution to minimize their effect. One of these

problems is global warming, and it is known as the increasing temperature of earth’s surface

that is rapidly heating our planet. The prominent cause of global warming is the abundance of

the greenhouse gases. Because of the increasing heat in the planet, there are materials being

used to lessen the hotness of the world, or at least in people’s homes (Riebeek, 2010).

Because of this, there have been experiments that researchers have conducted using rice

husk. Some use them in bricks by using them raw or turning them into ash. Because rice

husks have their thermal properties, they have been used in numerous ways, and one of

which is an insulator. There are some properties that have to be taken into consideration in

order for a material to be considered a heat-insulating material. In a previous study of

1
Deshmukh et al. (2017), insulation is about heat transferring and minimizing the heat flow

and retarding the rate of heat exchange. In accordance with their research, the important

properties that should be considered to be good insulation materials are 1.) Low thermal

conductivity 2.) Non-Corrosive 3.) Non-flammable 4.) Non-toxic 5.) Exhibit little or no

decomposition at long period of time. As rice husks or rice husk ashes are being compressed

and undergo the extrusion process, it can serve as a thermal insulator wherein it has apparent

low density and high porosity (Jamil, & Bejo, 2014). There is a possible way to solve the

heat problem of the world, and the use of agricultural products can lessen the amount of

waste in the world that contributes to the world waste. One of the most produced products of

the world is rice because of that, there have been solutions on the growing waste of rice or

rice husk some of the researcher used rice husk ash and rice husk as a mixture to the concrete

for building infrastructures (António et al., 2018).

Some researchers have also used rice husks in different applications. Raw rice husks

have also been used in the past to make cement-based building materials, such as in Qin,

Gao, & Chen’s (2018) study. They incorporated raw rice husks into a cement paste and

observed the product’s mechanical strength, thermal conductivity, and other properties. As

the product of their study exhibited great potential, it has been proven that it will be possible

to improve a material’s thermal insulating performance by incorporating rice husks into the

mix. The possibility of creating a thermal insulator that would be energy-efficient and would

have less environmental impact is even more attainable. Other researchers have also used rice

husk in concrete mixing, and in the study done by Carig, et al (2015), it was stated that one of

the useful solutions to minimize rice husk waste is to use the rice husk ash from combustion

as a mineral mixture in concretes. As a result, the problem and cost associated are reduced, if

2
not entirely eliminated. Because of its low cost, it comes with a great demand for people in

constructing buildings and infrastructures. Its durability and strength can also withstand

tough conditions of the environment. In the research done by Meng et al., (2018), several

studies that are performed just to evaluate the effectiveness of using insulators to insulate and

the difference that are being noticed because of the thickness and the location in reducing

energy consumption in different kinds of weather, namely summer and winter, by various

wall orientation. Based on their experiments, during the time that the heat is prominent, the

wall and the foam that is attached onto the concrete wall had the highest thermal response

rate and having the surface with high temperature, and they concluded that among the six

walls that they examined, the interior insulation and concrete wall that self-insulate are the

most suitable for the heating operation that is intermittent, with the other four walls that have

an insulation layer having some of the highest response rates, and the location of the

insulation to the inner surface was more suitable for intermittent heating operation.

Based on the previous researches, there are various studies that use rice husk as their

main materials. There are also various studies that use cornstarch to produce a particle board,

but the past researches focused solely on the water adsorption properties of the cornstarch-

made particle boards. Past researches only tackled the adsorption properties of the rice husk

particle boards and the insulation of heat using rice husk, but none have used rice husk mixed

with corn starch to create a particle board that can insulate heat. There is no study wherein

they incorporate rice husk, cornstarch and wood glue to a mixture, making a particle board

that insulates heat as much as existing heat insulators.

As the reduction of total waste is a priority of the construction industry nowadays,

this study aims to develop an eco-friendly particle board insulator which can match or

3
surpass the capability of commercially available particle board to insulate heat. The rice

husk-based insulator will be incorporated into a particleboard made from rice husk. The heat

capacity of the material will be observed. The capability of the rice husk to insulate heat will

be evaluated.

This study will be beneficial to the environment, since it will provide an eco-friendly

heat insulating particle board that can go hand in hand with commercial thermal insulator

products. This will not only provide affordable thermal insulators, but also it will recycle the

agricultural waste (rice husk) and use a biodegradable adhesive product (corn starch) since

both of these are considered as waste, aiming to lessen the amount of agricultural wastes that

are being produced.

Cornstarch, and wood glue (top bond) will be used to create a particle board that the

rice husk will be incorporated into. Only using the ratio 0.70 kg rice husk, 0.10 kg wood glue

and 0.20kg of cornstarch. The method that will be used for producing the particle board is

mixing all the needed materials and placing them into the mold to form a particle board by

compressing by flat iron and curing the final product for at least two days. That will serve as

the researchers’ insulation material that will be observed, and the heat capacity of the rice

husk particle board as a heat insulator will be investigated for determining the heat capacity

of the particle, the instrument the will be used to determine its heat capacity is calorimeter.

Though the particle board’s performance as a whole will be observed, the thermal properties

of the other materials used in fabricating the particleboard will not be taken into account, as

the study is limited to how the incorporation of rice husk(s) will affect the thermal

performance of a material used in construction. The cornstarch that will be used will only

4
serve as a binder for the particleboard, so its thermal and other properties will not be taken

into account.

5
 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Rice

There are approximately 700 million tons of rice being produced around the world.

(António et al., 2018). Based on the statistics that were done by the Philippine Statistics

Authority [PSA] (2018), as of 2016 there are 17.63 metric tons of rice being produced in the

Philippines, making it the most produced crop in the country. Some of the provinces that

contribute the most of this rice are from Cagayan Valley (Cagayan and Isabela).

Figure 2.1 Rice Producing Places in the Philippines

Around 12.2% of the total production of rice in the Philippines is from Cagayan

Valley. Just like in other countries in the world, rice is the most crucial agricultural crop. Rice

is being consumed everyday around the world, and in order for people to cook and eat rice,

there are processes that need to be undergone before the rice becomes edible, such as grading

6
the newly harvested rice, cleaning and removing its impurities, those of which could

potentially affect its quality (Jamil, & Bejo, 2014).

Based on the research that were done by Jamil, & Bejo (2014), rice and paddy is

being cleansed by grading and removing its impurities and contaminants that would be

affecting its quality. Rice also produces husks, just like paddy. Appertaining to the previous

research, the husk is the dry cover of the rice that is being removed by grading, as well a

waste material that has apparent low density and porosity. As rice is being produced around

the world, its waste is also produced and is being dumped around the world. When rice husks

are not disposed of properly, it becomes a huge quantity of waste in which it can pollute our

environment; contribute to health problems; and affect the aquatic life (Carig et. al, 2015).

Because of all that waste, many researchers are using rice husks as material in an effort to

lessen the pollution. In accordance to this, using agricultural wastes such as waste animal and

vegetable fibres can save a great amount of money, specifically in Turkey, because not only

are these agricultural wastes low cost, they are also quite easy to find. If this will be applied

to the Philippines, people will not need to sacrifice a lot of money just to buy materials that

support insulating heat or buildings that have heat insulators. They can just buy low cost

products that use agricultural wastes which is much more affordable than heat insulators that

use expensive materials such as fiber insulations. Thermal insulation is known to play a vital

role in saving energy by reducing the rate of heat transfer. Not only will it save expenses, it

will also save energy (Binici & Kekili, 2015).

Foreign Researches

Global warming is prominent in the world. Based on the research done by Riebeek

(2010), the prominent cause of global warming is the greenhouse gases present in our

7
atmosphere. Global warming is the increasing temperature of earth’s surface that is rapidly

heating our planet. Because of the increasing heat in the planet, there are materials that are

being used to lessen the hotness of the world, or at least in people’s homes. As recycled

materials are being applied more and more in construction materials as an effort to reduce our

impact on our environment, more and more studies are being conducted on these waste

materials’ mechanical, thermal, and acoustic properties. Rice husks can be applied to the

manufacturing of panels used in building and construction, like insulation panels, because of

its thermal and acoustic properties. (Buratti et al., 2018)

Insulation is one of the important components to have in one’s house or workplace.

Having good insulation in one’s home or workplace means a lot, since it helps reduce the

energy spent and bills while also keeping the air at a comfortable and consistent temperature.

Insulation materials such as fiberglass, cellulose, rock wool, and spray foam have

disadvantages. It either can be highly irritating to one’s skin and lungs, needs to be replaced

every 4 or 5 years, and can be quite expensive and not as common as other materials. Based

on the research done by Johnson (2017), insulators that specifically insulate heat from an

object are called thermal insulators, it is installed to some materials to reduce the rate of heat

transfer from an object to the outside element. Thermal insulators are commonly used in

buildings, home accessories, and clothing. Its intent is to decrease the rate at which heat is

transferred from the interior to the exterior of a structure or product. There are some

agricultural products that can be used as insulators, because of their thermal properties and

performance.

The development of new concrete for industrialized sectors is a major contribution in

building infrastructures and houses. Based on the research done by Chabannes, Benezet,

8
Clerc, & Garcia (2014), eco-friendly materials using plant aggregates allow the concrete to

move to a low carbon material with good thermo-physical properties. Hemp concrete is made

out of hemp hurd mixed with a lime-based binder and is used usually in the industry. This

way, people develop an innovative insulating concrete having the same properties but with

rice husks.

Kyauta, Dauda and Justin (2014), found that thermal insulation by using agricultural

products generates economic development for farming in some areas because they are

biodegradable, renewable, and environmentally friendly building thermal insulators. This

allows solutions to reduction in resource use, promote recycling of the waste, and lessen the

dependence on toxic chemical types in cellulose based insulators. In addition to this, the

current heat insulators that are being used today have negative effects to our environment and

even health. That is why there are studies that are using rice husks with different materials to

insulate heat.

There have been studies that are using rice husk and rice husk ash in different

applications. One of the researches used rice husks as their main component of the product

that they are building, one of which is bricks. A brick is a term that refers to a building

material that is used for construction or building material. There are places in Thailand that

use rice husks to build bricks. First, they burn it and turn them into rice husk ash. Some

bricks in Thailand are made out of clay, sawdust and rice husk ash. They conclude that the

addition of rice husk ash in 2% to the bricks affects the properties of the bricks to its strength

and density. Other researchers also found out how rice husks can be beneficial to many

industrial applications. (Sutas, Mana, & Pitak, 2011). In reliance, compared to other biomass

fuels, approximately 20%, rice husk has an uncommonly high in ash. It holds mostly 90%

9
silica which has a high absorbent and light in weight. Furthermore, it has a very high surface

area. Other applications of rice husk ash include as an insulator which has good quality of

insulating properties which also involves low thermal conductivity, a high melting point, low

bulk density and high porosity. Rice husk ash can be used as "tundish powder" (Haryati et al.,

2017). Based on the research done by Mistry (2016), rice husks are mostly used as fuel in

boilers for processing paddy and generation of process steam. Heat energy is produced

through direct combustion. Small sector process industries use fixed low capacity boilers,

which are manually fired using rice husk as a fuel. Partial and uneven fuel combustion leads

to smoke emission and decrease the fuel efficiency. As husks are virtually available for free,

the boiler efficiency and the degree of combustion were the issues of receiving the latest

attention.

Raw rice husks have also been used in the past to make cement-based building

materials, such as in Qin, Gao, & Chen’s (2018) study. They incorporated raw rice husks into

a cement paste and observed the product’s mechanical strength, thermal conductivity, and

other properties. As the product of their study exhibited great potential, it has been proven

that it will be possible to improve a material’s thermal insulating performance by

incorporating rice husks into the mix. The possibility of creating a thermal insulator that

would be energy-efficient and would have less environmental impact is even more attainable.

Other researchers also used rice husk in concrete mixing, and in the study

made by Carig, et al (2015), one of the useful solutions to minimize the amount of rice husk

waste is to use the rice husk ash from combustion as a mineral mixture in concretes. And as

a result the problem and cost associated are reduced, if not entirely eliminated. And because

of its low cost, it comes with a great demand for people in composing buildings and

10
infrastructures. Also, its durability and strength can withstand tough conditions of the

environment.

Based on the research done by Yang, Lourenco, & Estefen (2018), there are several

works that have been done in optimizing pipe insulation for district heating. In their study, it

shows district heating energy shows the temperature that the pipelines that has been governed

by the amount of energy from fuel that has been generating the thermal energy. In addition,

there have been studies where researchers develop a structural and thermal optimization

design method for insulated flowline configuration. In accordance to their studies and

experiments, they compared the cost and relation to the insulation to the material, and they

come up with the conclusion using the linear regression is established because of the accurate

and direct pattern between the temperature and insulation thickness. Same as the study of

Meng et al., (2018), there are several studies that are performed just to evaluate the

effectiveness of using insulators to insulate and the difference that are being notice because

of the thickness and the location in reducing energy consumption in different kinds of

weather namely summer and winter by various wall orientation and based on their

experiment, that during the time that the heat is prominent, the wall and the foamed that is

attached on the concrete wall had the highest thermal response rate and having the surface

with high temperature and they conclude that among the six wall that they examined the

interior insulation and concrete wall that self-insulate are the most suitable for the heating

operation that is intermittent and the other four walls that have an insulation layer are the one

of the highest response rate and the location of the insulation to the inner surface was more

suitable for intermittent heat operation.

11
 Starch, commonly used in food applications, can also be used in the construction and

building context. It can serve as a binder in materials, most especially in composites that

insulate heat. When mixed with water, starch can become a non-Newtonian fluid, which is

why it is efficient when used as a binder for construction materials. (Kulshreshtha,

Schlangen, Jonkers, & et al., 2017)

Based on the research done by Temitope, Onaopemipo, Olawale, & Abayomi (2013),

there has been research that uses rice husks into locally-made water-resistant particle board,

the researchers used a weighing scale to weigh the rice husk, starch, wood glue (top bond),

the mixture ratio adapted being 0.75 kg: 0.15 kg: 0.10 kg of rice husk, starch, wood glue

respectively, using a mixer it was thoroughly mixed manually. The mixture was poured into a

mold with a dimension of 300 mm x 300 mm x15 mm. The particleboard was compacted

with use a hydraulic press in two compacts. The particle board was tested for absorption in

both cold and hot media. The cold absorption test was performed by immersing the

composite sample into the cold water for a period of 30 mins, 1h, 2h, 4h, 6h, 8h at room

temperature (25°C) the thickness of the board taken. In hot absorption test the composite

sample was immersed into hot water with temperature ranging from 45°C, 65°C, 85°C, and

100°C at constant time period of hour the thickness of the board taken. It is concluded that

the use of starch, a biodegradable adhesive reduced the use of expensive synthetic adhesive

based on petroleum resources. The percentage absorption of the immersed particle board

increases with increasing time of immersion. The use of renewable resources such as rice

husk can reduce the strain on forest resources form excellent replacement for wood based

composite materials.

12
 Corn starch can be obtained by fermenting the corn slightly and corn is widely

available throughout the world specifically in the Philippines, since the production of corn in

the Philippines is in millions of tons. Based on the research done by Corpuz (2017), corn

production in Philippines was estimated at least 7.26 million tons in 2016, and 7.52 million

tons in 2017. Based on the research done by (Temitope et al, 2013), Starch adhesives is an

easily available inexpensive biodegradable whitish material which is typically tasteless and

odorless. Available starches include corn starch, potato starch, sago tapioca. Starches are

modified to increase their stability against excessive physical conditions, to change their

texture to modify their characteristics for particular applications. Modified starch can also be

formulated to produce particle board by using the procedure hydraulic hot pressing, The use

of starch, a biodegradable adhesive reduced the use of more expensive adhesive based on

petroleum sources. The combination of rice husk and cornstarch provides results which have

high potential to be used in production of particle board (Amini, 2013).

13
 Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

Rice husk and Compressing Heat insulating

Cornstarch (Iron) and curing Particle board

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Figure 3.1 Conceptual Framework

The dependent variable for the study is the ratio of the rice husk and cornstarch since

the outcome of the output is dependent to the ratio of rice husk and cornstarch, which is the

heat insulating particle board. If the heat capability however is low, the ratio for rice husk and

cornstarch can be changed to attain the objective of this study. The particle board will be

produced by using the process mechanical method which contains compressing and curing.

Materials and Methods

The main material of this research is rice husk where it will be collected in local rice

mill company. After collecting, the rice husk will be under the sun for at least two days to

keep its quality high and reduce its moisture content. Cornstarch will be used as an adhesive

material for the mixture to be compressed and bound properly. Lastly, wood glue will thicken

the mixture and make the product sturdy.

Furthermore, the researcher’s will be using additional materials for the study such as

the following: Flat iron, to be used in the compressing process for the mould to be

compressed and compact: Weighing scale, to be used in the experimentation to get the weight

14
 of the particle board and the water: Measuring cylinder, the instrument that will be used to

strictly follow the given ratio for the mould of the particle board: Frame, manually made by

the researcher’s following the dimension of 300mm x 300mm x 15mm: Parchment paper, a

non-sticky paper that will be used as a surface and cover for the mould

Creation of the Rice Husk Particle Board

Mixing of Hot
Creation of Box
Raw Compressio Sun Dry
Mould Assembling
Materials n

Figure 3.2 Mechanical Method

The mechanical method will be used by the researchers for the thermal insulating

particle board to be produced. The mechanical method requires all raw materials to be mixed

in the mixer for the component to become a mould. The materials that will be used are only

three which are the rice husk, which will serve as the main component of the particle board;

wood glue, which will be significant for helping the starch easily adhere to rice husk to make

a mould; lastly, the cornstarch on the other hand will be the binder.

After the production of Rice husk particle board, the next step is the curing, which is

the process of drying out the material or the particle board. In addition, in this process, the

wood glue and Cornstarch will penetrate the particle board better. Sun will be used for the

15
drying out of the mould. After 3-5 days of sun dry, 6 boards will then be used to create a box

which is capable of placing a normal paper cup for it to be used for the obtaining of data.

Material Mixture

Figure 3.3 Material Mixture

Rice husk, cornstarch and wood glue will be placed in the mixer to create the mixture

of the mould to be used in creating the particle board. Rice husk (70%), Corn starch (20%)

and Wood glue (10%), these are the proportion of the materials to produce the particle board.

Process of the rice husk particle board mould

In creating the particle board, parchment paper will be used as a surface or cover of

the frame for the mould to not stick when the paper is being peeled off because of its

property of having a surface that is non-stick. After the mixing of the materials, the mixture

will then be placed inside the frame with dimensions of 300mm x 300mm x 15mm. It will be

covered by another parchment paper then compressed using a flat iron. Lastly, it will be

moved under the sun for it to be dried out for at least 2-5 days.

16
17
Data Gathering Procedure

Heat capability test

Putting a  3 Trials: 
Box made  Heat 
water at its  Change in  Heat 
out of  Capability
boiling  Temperatur insulating 
Particle 
points (100  Test e per  capability
boards
°C) minute
Figure 3.4 Heat Capability Test

To measure the particle board's capability to insulate heat, a box will be made from

the particle boards with the mixture of cornstarch and wood glue to bind the parts together. A

cup filled of hot water (190 °F) will be placed inside the box and in the lunchbox heat

insulator which are available commercially. Temperature will be measured using a

thermometer every minute to evaluate the heat insulating capabilities of the particle board.

The data that will be gathered will then be analyzed using the statistical analysis ANOVA 1-

way.

Specific Heat Capacity

The researchers will be doing an experiment to get the specific heat of the particle

board. An experiment which makes use of the principle of calorimetry or the law of

conservation of energy, which states that in a closed system, heat lost by a hot body is equal

to the heat gained by a cold body. The experiment will make use of a styrofoam cup as a

calorimeter in determining the heat capacity of the rice husk particle board.

Experimentation

18
 The Styrofoam cup will be filled with 100 grams of room temperature water and a

beaker will be filled with water while constantly exposed in heat until the water reaches its

boiling point, 100°C. The weight of the calorimeter and the weight of the particle board will

be measured. When the beaker reaches 100°C, put the particle board in the beaker. After 10

mins, put the particle board in the calorimeter and record the final temperature of the water in

the calorimeter

The data that will be gathered will be computed using the formula:

Figure 3.5 Bar Chart

A commercially available thermal insulator will be used to compare the performance

of the rice husk particle box because both uses the same function of isolating or keeping the

heat inside. The commercially available thermal insulator (Rubbermaid Lunchbox) uses

a polymer material, specifically a Polyethylene polymer which has a specific heat of 1900

19
J/Kg*k. Moreover, figure 3.5, a bar chart, will be used as the chart to compare the specific

heat capacity of the rice husk particle board and the commercially available thermal insulator.

Results and Discussion

Heat Capability

Table 4.1 displays the results from the heat capability test wherein initially, hot water

(190 ⁰F) is placed in a cup, which is placed inside the lunchbox and the particle boxes are

tested one by one, every minute for 10 minutes, to understand which is the better heat

insulator between the rice husk particle box and the lunchbox. From the data shown, it is

apparent that

the heat lost in the lunchbox is much greater than the 3 particle boxes. From the 1­minute

mark until the 10th minute, the heat lost in the lunchbox greater.

Lunch Percent
Time BOX 1 BOX 2 BOX 3 Sum Average
Box Difference
Initial 190 190 190 560 87.78 87.78 0
1 min 180 180.6 181 541.6 82.52 82.06 0.46
2 mins 172.4 173.3 172.8 518.5 78.24 77.5 0.78
3 mins 165.6 166.6 165.9 498.1 74.46 73.78 0.75
4 mins 159.6 160.8 161.4 481.8 71.44 70.28 1.32
5 mins 154.5 156.2 155.8 466.5 68.61 67.5 1.3
6 mins 149.4 151.7 151.3 452.4 66 64.56 1.75
7 mins 146.4 147.7 147.1 441.2 63.93 62.39 1.92
8 mins 142.8 143.9 143.2 429.9 61.83 60.28 1.99
9 mins 140.1 140.5 139.9 419.9 59.98 58.28 2.24
10 mins 137.3 137.4 136.9 411.6 58.44 56.5 2.62
Σ = 15.3
Average = 1.513
Table 4.1 - Percent Difference

In table 4.1, After the calculations for the sum and average of the 3-rice husk particle

box, the interpreted average percent difference between the 3 rice husk box and the lunch box

20
is 1.513%, which is explained as the difference between the decrease of heat from the 3

particle board boxes and the lunchbox.

Hypothesis Testing

The “Analysis of Variance” (ANOVA) is a statistical technique that is used to

determine whether there are any statistically significant difference between the means of

three or more independent (unrelated groups). It is done to compare the means between the

groups oneself is interested in and determines whether any of those means are statistically

different from each other. Specifically, it tests the null hypothesis:

(Eq. 1)

However, this study will make use of the statistical approach t-test. T-test is a type of

statistical approach in defining if there is a significant value difference in the two groups that

are being compared and takes a sample from each of the two sets and establishes the problem

statement by assuming a null hypothesis that the two means are equal. It is one of the many

ways in testing the statistics of one hypothesis. The test requires in calculation are mean

difference (MD) which are the different mean values from different set of data, the standard

deviation (SD) is the equated quantity that indicate the extent of deviations of a group as a

whole, and the number of data values gathered each per group. The correlated t-test is used

for those groups or material being used that have some similarities to each other.

As shown in Table 4.2, the resulting t value is way higher than the T critical two-tail

which in this statistical approach states that, there are significant difference between the

21
average of the three-particle box to the compared thermal insulator which is available

commercially. By having this conclusion with the t-test, the performance of the particle box

can either be better or not with the performance of the commercially available thermal

insulator.

Table 4.2 T-test

3 Particle box (Average) Lunchbox

Mean 70.29363636 69.17363636
Variance 91.73530545 103.2519655
Observations 11 11
Pearson Correlations 0.999949576
Hypothesized Mean Diff. 0
Df 10
T value 6.276880974
P(T<=t) one-tail 4.5896E-05
T critical one tail 1.812461123
P(T<=t) two-tail 9.1792E-05
T critical two-tail 2.228138852

Specific Heat Capacity

Specific heat capacity is the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature

of a substance per unit of mass. Simply, in SI units, specific heat capacity is the amount of

heat in joules required to 1 gram of a substance 1 Kelvin (J/Kg*K). Also defined as the ratio

of the amount of energy transferred to a material and the change in temperature that is

produced:

Q
c= (Eq. 2)
m× ∆ T

Where C is specific heat capacity, Q is energy required (usually expressed in joules),

M is mass, and ΔT is the change in temperature. This formula was used by the researchers to

get the specific heat of the capacity from the data gathered in the experimentation.

22
Table 4.3 Data of water and board
Water Particle Board

Mass(m) 100g 12g

Initial Temperature (Ti) 23.9°C 98.5°C
Final Temperature (Tf) 29.3°C 29.3°C
Change in Temperature(ΔT) 5.4°C -69.2°C
Specific Heat(C) 4.186 Joule/gram*°C 2.722 Joule/gram*°C

The values that was gathered from the experimentation are shown in table 4.3 was

used to determine the specific heat capacity of the particle board. After the calculation of heat

energy required to find the specific heat of the particle board, C=Q/m× ΔT , formula for

specific heat capacity, was used and it was determined that the particle board has a specific

heat capacity of 2.722 Joule/ gram*°C.

Table 4.4 Specific heat data

Thermal Insulator Materials Specific Heat J/(kg.k)

Rice Husk Particle board 2722

Wool Rolls 1800
Polyethylene polymer 1900
Glass Mineral wools 1030
23
Cellulose 2020
 Specific Heat J/(Kg.k)
3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
d ls er ls se
ar Rol m oo lo
Bo l ly W llu
le oo Po al C e
r tic W ne er
le in
Pa y
sk th sM
lye as
Hu Po Gl
ce
Ri

Specific Heat J/(Kg.k)

Figure 4.1 Specific Heat data

From the comparison through the usage of bar chart. It is apparent that the specific

heat capacity of the rice husk particle board is the highest and glass mineral wools being the

material which have the lowest specific heat capacity. Polyethylene polymer is the 3rd

material which has a high specific heat capacity after the rice husk particle board which is the

material used for making the Rubbermaid lunchbox which is the commercially available

lunchbox which is used to be compared with the rice husk particle box, Cellulose being the

2nd highest specific heat; wool rolls being the 3 rd; and the glass mineral wools being the 4 th in

the order of highest to lowest specific heat capacity between the 4 materials and the rice husk

particle board.

24
 Chapter 4

CONCLUSION

From the results of the heat capability test, it is apparent that the rice husk particle

board is better at insulating heat than the commercially available thermal insulator, which is

the lunchbox, from the comparison of the performance of the 3-rice husk particle box and the

lunchbox. The lunchbox has a percent decrease of 1.513% of heat per minute when compared

to the rice husk particle board. Moreover, the result from the hypothesis testing, which uses

the uses the T-test. It showed that the resulting t value is way larger than the t critical value

which states that the null hypothesis will be rejected, which states that the mean of the 3

particle boards and the lunchbox have a significant difference.

Furthermore, there were additional methods that the researchers used to prove that the

rice husk particle board is a good insulator or even better than the current commercially

available thermal insulators, which is using the specific heat capacity of the rice husk particle

board for comparison to the currently available thermal insulators specific heat capacity.

After the experimentations and calculations, it determined that the rice husk particle board

showed great potential to be used as thermal insulators since it had the highest specific heat

out of all the materials used for thermal insulation currently. Thus, it can be concluded that

the rice husk particle board is better at insulating heat than the commercially available

thermal insulators since it not only lessens the agricultural waste, but it also has an

outstanding capability for insulating heat.

25
 Chapter 5

RECOMMENDATIONS

As the result of the study, the heat insulating particle board is on equal terms as the

existing heat insulating lunch box when it comes to insulating heat. However, the study can

still have considerable changes or improvements. In the process of creating the particle

board, there are plenty of alternatives for parchment paper which are better non-stick papers

to improve the surface of the particle board. Changing the ratio of the mixture for the mould

can alter the performance of the particle board in insulating heat, either make its heat

capacity higher or lower. Using other form of rice husk such as the rice husk ash may also

change the performance of the particle board in insulating heat. Lastly, using a hot hydraulic

press would result in better compressibility of the particle board.

26
 References

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28
 APPENDIX A
Solving of Specific heat

To get the specific heat capacity of the particle board

q water =100 × 4.186×(5.4 )

qwater = -Qwood

2260.44 = -2260.44

Having the values of Q, the specific heat of the particle board is calculated

−2260.44
S=
12×(−69.2)

S = 2.722

APPENDIX B
Picture of Materials

Figure B.1 Frame

29
 Figure B.2 Mixture

Figure B.3 Particle board

30
Figure B.4 Rice husk particle box

Figure B.5 Mixture in a frame

31