VALORISATION OF BY-PRODUCTS OF THE COTTON SECTOR IN BENIN: DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING OF A DEFIBRATOR AND A THERMOPRESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF INSULATION PANELS

Cotton production is an important sector in the development of West African countries, particularly Benin. This waste constitutes an unused resource and a threat to the environment. The aim of this work is the design and manufacture of a defibrator and a thermopress for the valorisation of this waste into insulation panels. These two machines have been dimensioned and designed using TopSolid, Schemaplic, Matlab and RDM6 software. The defibrator is manual and enables the shredding of fiber waste and the extraction of impurities. The thermopress is manual and has an electric heating and temperature control system. It can form 30 mm thick panels with a surface area of 400 x 400 mm2 at temperatures up to 200 °C. These two equipments have made it possible to produce new bio-based materials that will help reduce the harmful effects of climate change.