Value-added Chemicals and Other Bio-based Products From Bark

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With increasing concern over the rapid depletion of non-renewable resources, climate change, and the rising price of petroleum-based products, there is a strong global interest in developing technologies that can derive fuel and chemicals from renewable resources. Bark residues hold great promises not only due to their suitable chemical compositions and large availability, but also because they are not part of the global food supply system. The long-term objectives of our bark research program is to develop sustainable technologies that can use bark as commercially viable substitutes for petroleum-based feedstock to produce value-added eco-friendly industrial materials with a large market potential. This NSERC Discovery project will complement our other developmental efforts in value-added utilization of bark. It will focus on two critical fundamental issues needed by the development of bark-based phenol formaldehyde (PF) adhesives and rigid polyurethane (PU) foams. The specific research objectives that will be addressed by this NSERC project are: 1- to obtain a fundamental understanding of the effect of bark components on reactivity and adhesion of bark-derived PF adhesives, and 2- to develop a predictive model for thermal conductivity and compressive properties of rigid PU foams using Discrete Element Method (DEM) in order to identify optimum foam structure, and reinforcing filler morphology and type for making bark-based rigid insulation foams. The mechanistic insights to be gained through these fundamental studies will guide our bark developmental efforts by shedding light on optimum adhesives formulations and foam morphologies and compositions. They will also contribute significantly to the general knowledge of PF adhesives and PU foams. If successful, the bark-derived valued-added green chemicals and bio-based materials will help substantially with the transformation of Canada's forest products mills to integrated biorefineries, greatly enhancing the sector's competitiveness in the global marketplace. HQP's trained by the project will be ideally suited to become the future leaders in the emerging bio-economy making significant contributions to Canada's long term prosperity and well-being.