In a lab at Michigan State University (MSU), researchers are trying to revolutionize the wood adhesives industry using an agricultural co- product supplied by the team at POET’s Project LIBERTY, POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels’ commercial scale cellulosic biofuels facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa. The joint POET- DSM venture uses biowaste like corn cobs, leaves and husk to produce cellulosic ethanol.

What MSU researcher and assistant professor Dr. Mojgan Nejad’s team has found is that lignin — organic material that is left over from biofuel production — can completely replace petroleum-based phenol, a toxic ingredient in wood adhesives. In the last 30 or so years of published work on replacing phenol with lignin, Nejad’s research was the first to prove the viability of 100 percent replacement of phenol with lignin.

Using a bio-based alternative instead of a toxic, chemical-based one offers the potential to bring not only health benefits for construction workers and consumers at large but also cost savings for the adhesive industry. The collaboration has been successful, group members from POET and MSU say, in part because of their shared vision to replace petrochemicals with green, renewable alternatives. The POET/MSU collaboration recently won the 2018 Small Business Innovation Award from the Adhesive and Sealant Council for the group’s efforts.

 

More information is available in the full article online.