Effect of wood adhesive modification with liquefied lignocellulosic biomass and nanocellulose on the formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds emissions of particleboards

ABSTRACT

Reducing harmful emissions from wooden materials is a major challenge for the wood industry. This is particularly important for the particleboard sector, where the use of formaldehyde-based resins can cause substantial pollutant emissions. With the aim of finding a greener alternative to commercial resins, the authors applied four types of liquefied lignocellulosic biomass and two types of nanocellulose-based formulations as a partial replacement of melamine-urea-formaldehyde resin for single-layer particleboard manufacturing and tested: formaldehyde content, formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions of the boards. The results revealed reduced formaldehyde content (up to −20%) and a slight decrease (max −13%) in formaldehyde emission in comparison to the panel produced with commercial resin when applying liquefied biomass in the adhesive mass. The values of VOC emissions in the particleboards developed with the alternative adhesive systems were substantially lower in comparison to the commercial panel, especially for γ-methacryloxypropyl-trimethoxysilane nanocellulose, which allowed to achieve a reduction of about 67% of total VOC emissions. Overall, liquefied wood products obtained from softwood bark showed the best performance in decreasing the emissions. The results confirmed the research hypothesis that the use of liquefied lignocellulosic biomass and nanocellulose can reduce the emissions of harmful substances from the wood-based panels.

KEYWORDS:

• Formaldehyde
• VOCs
• bio-adhesives
• liquefied lignocellulosic biomass
• nanocellulose
• particleboards

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (DJL), upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research was carried out within project no. LIDER/14/0174/L-7/15/NCBR/2016: New biopolymer adhesives modified with silanes and ionic liquids for application in wood-based materials technology, funded by the National Center for Research and Development in Poland under the LIDER VII program.