The actual experimental layout and processingwas performed
over 2 days. Steam, hot water and sulphuric acid were added
in the pretreatment of the size-reduced straw material. This
pretreatment was performed the day before the refining and
pressing of the non-resin straw fibre material. The refining,
forming and pressing of the activated fibres were divided into
four major trials denoted RA, RB, and RC (Table 2). Trial RDwas
only used to produce fibres for evaluation of the fibre properties
and was produced without the addition of chemicals
during refining. The reference straw MDF/HDF (SMDF) in trial
RE had been produced in an earlier investigation (Halvarsson
et al., 2008).