Adhesives are essential for producing wooden boards from particles or veneer, necessitating large quantities of glue. Historically, plant and animal proteins were used in adhesives, but the advent of inexpensive fossil fuels led to a shift towards petroleum-based products like urea-formaldehyde, which present health risks and are non-renewable. Current research is focused on reviving natural-based products with comparable or superior performance to petroleum-based adhesives.
Soy proteins are widely used as adhesives, especially in countries with high agricultural soy output. In Europe, however, soy production is low, prompting this investigation into clover grass proteins. Grasslands are abundant and underutilized in Denmark, and efforts are underway to refine clover or paludiculture grass into purified proteins for human consumption or fodder. These proteins show promise as adhesives.
This work examines the isothermal strength development of clover grass proteins, specifically their ability to form bonds at a specific hot-pressing temperature. Fast bonding is crucial for particle boards to ensure reliable integrity after pressing, facilitating faster production. Soy proteins often bond too slowly for particle board production. Our data shows that clover grass proteins can sometimes set faster than soy proteins, indicating potential for industrial use.
Keywords: adhesives, biobased, grass protein, particle board
Authors
Julian Christ
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Mette Lübeck
BiomassProtein Aps, Denmark
Aalborg University, Denmark
Christopher G. Hunt
Forest Products Laboratory, WI-United States
Anti Rohumaa
Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia
Anand Ramesh Sanadi
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
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