Construction materials have a direct impact on the environment, on people, and their health. In addition, building insulation plays a decisive role in terms of energy consumption of buildings and regarding CO₂-emissions over their whole life cycle. In order to achieve a holistic concept for green building worldwide, it is necessary to develop ecological insulating materials and to scientifically examine them in terms of their technical properties, as done with particleboards from agricultural waste presented in this article. This study aims to characterize the properties’ tensile and compressive strength, modulus of rupture (MOR), and elasticity (MOE) and thermal conductivity of particleboards affected by parameters, such as waste type (rice straw or flax shives), particleboard density, resin type, and content, as well as the use of treated rice straw. Particleboards made from flax shives had superior properties compared to the rice straw particles. The mechanical properties of the boards increase with an increasing resin content, except for the MOR and MOE, which decrease with an increasing resin content, and reach their peak value at a resin content of 10%.

The aim of this study is to affect the external temperature on the stability of the internal temperature in three models of banana ripening rooms. Bananas need to complete the ripening process in five days in the ripening room. In this study, we conducted the experiment in three banana ripening models in the city of Santa, Gharbia Governorate, during the winter period from November 2023 to December 2023 and the summer period from July 2024 to September 2024. The area of model 1 was 72 m3 and was isolated with cement; the model 2 was 60 m3 and was also isolated with cement; and the model 3 was 36 m3 and was isolated with ceramics. The measurement indicators were the internal and external temperature in three periods in summer and three periods in winter, measured by using infrared thermal imaging. The image analysis system was utilized in conjunction with the MATLAP program. The results recorded that during summer the internal temperatures in the first period ranged between 15.3 °C and 18.24 °C. In the second period, ranged between 16.2°C and 18.46°C. And in the third period, ranged between 16.8°C and 18.59°C. while the external temperatures in the three models ranged between 32.8°C and 36.61°C, between 35.93°C and 37.67°C, between 36.83°C and 38.88°C In the three periods, respectively. During winter, the external temperatures in the three models ranged between 19.97°C and 17.75°C, between 23.1°C and 20.58°C, and between 24°C and 21.82°C in the three periods, respectively. While the internal temperatures in the three models ranged between 15.74°C and 17.39°C In the first period, it ranged between 16.64°C and 17.61°C; in the second period, and ranged between 17.24°C and 17.74°C; in the third period, respectively.

The main aim of the present study is to develop, fabricate and evaluate a rotating grader for grading cereal corps. The effect of different orifice sizes (<7.5, 7.5 to 9.5 and 9.5 to 11.0 mm), inclination angles (0, 3, 5 and 7ᵒ) and rotational speeds of drum (25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 rpm) were studied. The grader productivity, efficiency, specific energy consumption and costs were determined. The obtained results indicated that the grader productivity increased from 11.73 to 49.38, 145.72 to 213.38 and 110.29 to 236.52 kg h-1, with increasing orifices size from small to large, inclination angles increased from 0 to 7ᵒ and rotational speed of drum increased from 25 to 50 rpm, respectively. The grader efficiency decreased from 99.00 to 81.89, 89.38 to 87.12 and 89.46 to 86.62 %, with increasing orifices size from small to large, inclination angles increased from 0 to 7ᵒ and rotational speed of drum increased from 25 to 50 rpm, respectively. The specific energy consumption of grader increased from 10.77 to 13.62 and 9.14 to 14.81 kW h ton-1, with increasing inclination angles increased from 0 to 7ᵒ and rotational speed of drum increased from 25 to 50 rpm, respectively. The total cost of grader decreased from 0.07 to 0.05 and 0.09 to 0.04 EGP kg-1, with increasing inclination angles increased from 0 to 7ᵒ and rotational speed of drum increased from 25 to 50 rpm, respectively.