Development of 100% biobased adhesive for applications in engineered wood products

木材复合工业主要使用酚醛类胶粘剂生产外立面胶合板、定向刨花板和刨花板。酚醛胶粘剂由两种主要成分制成：苯酚和甲醛，这两种成分都是从石油资源中产生的。用环境安全和可持续的生物材料以成本效益高的方式替代这些原材料，将有利于木材复合材料和树脂的制造商以及消费者。拟议项目的目标是修改两种天然生物聚合物，以形成完全由可持续原材料制成的粘合剂。特别是，EcoSynthetix（即EcoSphere）生产的工程糖基聚合物和工业来源的木质素将用于开发生物基粘合剂。

Wood composite industries mainly use phenolic-based adhesives in the production of exterior grade plywood, oriented strand boards and particle boards. Phenolic adhesives are made from two main components: phenol and formaldehyde, which are both produced from petroleum resources. Cost-effective substitution of these raw materials with environmentally safe and sustainable biomaterials would benefit manufacturers of wood composites and resins, as well as consumers. The goal of the proposed project is to modify two natural biopolymers to formulate an adhesive that is entirely made of sustainable raw materials. In particular, an engineered sugar-based polymer produced by EcoSynthetix (i.e. EcoSphere) and industrially sourced lignins will be used to develop a bio-based adhesive. Through an initial Engage grant, we developed a process to oxidize EcoSphere to provide the formaldehyde component of phenolic resins. We also compared enzymatic and chemical methods to generate the phenolic fraction of resins from lignins isolated through different pretreatment processes and biomass sources. The aim of the current Engage Plus project will be to characterize the basic properties of resins produced using oxidized EcoSphere and lignin, including viscosity, gel time and water resistance. Opportunities to tailor resin properties using different EcoSphere preparations will also be evaluated.