The particleboard industry has increasingly turned to alternative resources, such as agricultural wastes and by-products, in response to the depletion of forest resources. Particleboard manufacturing typically involves hot-pressing, where lignocellulosic materials and binders are compressed and heated to form solid panels. However, conventional hot-pressing machines, primarily designed for mass production, are often too large for laboratory-scale experimentation and may lack the necessary adaptations to effectively process agricultural wastes. Existing machines are primarily designed for wood-based particleboard, making them less effective for agricultural waste processing. Although a manually-operated hydraulic hot-pressing device has been developed for laboratory applications, it can be labor-intensive and prone to inconsistencies in pressing conditions, such as pressure and temperature, that adversely affect product quality.

Objectives: Aiming to address the limitation of a manually operated hot-pressing device, this study is aimed to design, develop and evaluate a motorized and hydraulically-operated laboratory-sized hot-pressing device for agricultural wastes -based particleboard application.

The methods employed in the study included as follows: Identifying the design considerations as basis for the design of the device; designing the hot-press device which included the design specifications, materials selection, principle of operations of the device, design of the control panel, electrical diagrams, hydraulic system, structural frame; development, fabrication and installation of various components of the device; and, performance evaluation of the device in terms of the quality of particleboards produced using the designed hotpress device.

The motorized and hydraulically-operated laboratory-sized hot-pressing device was successfully designed and developed. It has incorporated modern automation and control systems into particleboard production, enhancing the efficiency, accuracy, and repeatability of the pressing process, leading to a higherquality products. The hydraulic system has been carefully installed, enabling the application of precise pressure essential for particleboard production. The device has been tested successfully as it can produce particleboards from various agricultural products and wastes based on the parameters considered in the study.

A laboratory-sized hot-pressing device which is motorized and hydraulically-operated was developed for particleboard production, making it suitable for small-scale production and experimental purposes. Performance evaluation through producing particleboards from various materials (agricultural wastes and products) and binders has been successfully demonstrated. For future study, advanced monitoring and feedback mechanisms maybe implemented to ensure consistent quality and optimize operational parameters in real-time.