Bioadhesives Research Team

 

Research

 

The Bioadhesives Research Team has developed soybean based wood adhesives that have similar properties to melamine urea formaldehyde and phenol formaldehyde. The technology is based on the replacement of up to 70% of the current synthetic chemicals with soy protein.

Wood adhesives formulated with soy protein are expected to be more environmentally friendly through the reduction of the current synthetic chemicals and is also expected to be cost competitive.

Benefits

There are many potential benefits for using adhesives formulated with soy protein including the following:

• Soy based adhesives are comparable in strength and water resistance to phenol formaldehyde and melamine urea formaldehyde based adhesives
• Environmentally friendly because the synthetic chemicals are significantly reduced or eliminated
• Cost competitive through the use of lower cost soy protein ingredients

Testing

Currently the group is testing the soy adhesives in:

• Wood Composites
  • Plywood
  • Oriented Strand Board
  • Particle Board
• Fiber-Based Composites
  • Fiberboard
  • Molded Wood Products
  • Ag-Fiber Board

In addition to the research on soy adhesives, the research group is also investigating the potential of proteins in the area of wood preservation.  Protein is able to chelate heavy metals such as copper and zinc, forming water-insoluble complexes. Soy and other proteins could be a very good metal-fixing biopolymer in wood preservative formulations because it is readily available in different forms, in large quantities and is safe to handle.

 

Soy Hydrolysate

Soy flour is modified with enzymes to create soy hydrolysate which is combine with current wood adhesives to produce soy protein-based adhesives. This combination reduces the amount of chemicals used in adhesives and lowers formaldehyde emissions.