Commercialization of a Formadlehyde-Fee Soy-Based Wood Adhesive for Production of Plywood

Interior wood composite panels are widely used for furniture, bookshelf, kitchen cabinets, flooring, and other building materials, and are predominantly made with carcinogenic urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin. New formaldehyde-free wood adhesives that mainly consist of abundant, renewable, and readily available soybean flour and novel curing agents have been developed in a laboratory and successfully used for production of plywood in mill trials in the project funded by an EPA phase I grant. One of the most promising soy-based adhesives consists of soy flour and a natural product and is 100% based on natural materials, that is, does not contain any petrochemicals or petrochemical-­based products. The adhesive does not contain formaldehyde and will not emit formaldehyde or any other hazardous volatile organic compounds. As far as we know, this is the most environmentally friendly, green wood adhesive in the history of wood adhesives. This adhesive is superior to the UF resin in terms of the strengths and water-resistance of resulting wood composite panels. The overall goal of this project is to commercialize fully this new soy-based adhesive for the production of plywood in a commercial plywood mill. If this project is successful, the new adhesive is expected to be highly environmentally friendly, based on 100% natural materials, and cost-competitive to all competitive wood adhesives in the market. The results of this project will improve greatly indoor air quality and our working and living environments, significantly reduce the use of petrochemicals in building materials, and greatly enhance global competitiveness of the U.S. wood composite manufacturers. This project addresses this program priority: “A. Green Building Materials and Systems.”