In the era of the environmental strain caused by fossil fuels and chemicals, and the increased concern with the long-term security of supply of petrochemicals, considerable interest was raised in resins obtained from renewable resources.
CHIMAR's efforts were focused on identifying raw materials derived from natural products or by-products, mainly from biomass feedstock, that could replace a considerable quantity of petroleum derived chemicals. An extensive but not exhaustive list of materials studied includes: tannin, lignin, cellulose, spent pulping liquor from paper production, biomass pyrolysis oil and its fractions, extraction/liquefaction products of agricultural and forestry residues (cashew nut shell liquid, liquefied wood, liquefied olive stones, vinasse), starch, proteins (soy). Resins produced by substituting phenol with either pyrolysis oils, tannin or liquefied olive stone, have been tested industrially. The modified resins are less toxic and have lower cost as compared to the common PF ones. The resulting panels have the same properties as the ones produced with common PF resins.
CHIMAR provides PF resins in which up to 40% of the phenol required ia substituted by pyrolysis oil. Special products are developed for application in OSB and plywood manufacturing. Such resin products are tailor made to customer requirements. They are compatible with all the additives and all the other adhesive types currently used by panel producers. CHIMAR is in close cooperation with the producers of the pyrolysis oil to trace the available feedstock quantities.
CHIMAR also provides Know-How for the production of PF resin in which up to 20% of phenol is substituted by tannin. The modified resins are applied mainly in the production of plywood. The resins are tailor made according to the available type of tannin and the customer requirements.
CHIMAR tested successfully in plywood manufacturing PF resin produced by substituting up to 50% of phenol with liquefied olive stone. In this way CHIMAR addresses the problem of exploiting the residues from the olive oil production.
Moreover, CHIMAR has developed a totally natural binder system for the production of standard grade panels at laboratory scale. CHIMAR is currently working to scale up the system to the industrial level, thus proving the feasibility of the system.
