Green wood and particleboard adhesives based on side-streams from the pulp industry

Purpose and goal

The project´s overall goal, to develop new formaldehyde-free adhesives from renewable raw materials and at the same time valorize sidestreams from the forest industry, as well as the specific goals, to evaluate different hemicellulose-rich fractions, modify them to provide better adhesive properties, and evaluate them in lab and larger scale adhesive applications, has been fulfilled both through the intensive work in the lab at KTH, but also in the collaborations with the participating industrial partners at their respective facilities.

Expected results and effects

The project has resulted in extensive knowledge building around the use of hemicellulose in wood- adhesive applications, fundamental knowledge on how the molecular weight of biopolymers affects adhesive properties, as well as valuable networking and discussions with our industrial partners and other large forest companies. Furthermore, the project has resulted in two published articles in high-impact journals, a licentiate thesis, three MSc theses, a BSc thesis, as well as around ten conference and seminar contributions.

Planned approach and implementation

The work in the project was carried out for the most part by a licenciate student, but we have also had several MSc and BSc students attached to the project. The majority of the work has been carried out at KTH, but gluing and evaluation on a larger scale has been carried out at our industrial partners. Covid-19 posed a challenge in the project, mostly for the work conducted at our industrial partners, but thanks to the fact that we were given the opportunity to extend the project after the restrictions were lifted, the industry-related sub-projects could also be completed with good results.