Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
(N/A)
BURLINGTON,VT 05405
Performing Department
Administration
Non Technical Summary
This proposed project will develop a natural and safe wood adhesive for plywood manufacture that can commercially replace the toxic volatile chemical resins currently used in the industry. The project will contribute to improvement of human health and will improve our economic future through development of commercially-viable, environmentally-safe alternatives. This research uses an existing low end of agricultural byproduct cheese whey proteins, thereby enhancing the economic vitality and opportunities for the dairy industry, to produce an adhesive product with higher safety and higher quality than the current market standards.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
25%
Applied
50%
Developmental
25%
Goals / Objectives
The goals of this research are to develop safe adhesives for plywood manufacture using whey proteins. Whey is a byproduct from cheese making, and more than one third of the whey (total 90 billion lb) generated by the cheese industry is disposed to the environment every year in the US. This impact can be eliminated by profitable use of whey for commercial purposes. In particular, the use of polymerized whey for plywood manufacture will also reduce the use of synthetic petroleum-based polymer products such as urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin, pheonl-formaldehyde (PF) resin, resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin, and phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde (PRF) resin, which are highly toxic to humans and have the negative impact of releasing volatile organic solvents. Our preliminary work has demonstrated that whey proteins can be used for formulating safe adhesives, but to utilize these globular proteins for this purpose, their molecular structure must modified using physical, chemical, and/or enzymatic means. We will develop formulations of whey adhesives optimal for plywood manufacture, analyzed and tested in the lab, and if successful, the prototypes will also be tested in commercial settings. This proposed project will address many of the goals USDA and the State of Vermont strive for as we continue to improve our economic future through development of commercially-viable, environmentally-safe alternatives. This research uses an existing low end of agricultural byproduct cheese whey proteins, thereby enhancing the economic vitality and opportunities for the dairy industry, to produce an adhesive product with higher safety and higher quality than the current market standards.
Project Methods
The objectives of this project are to further optimize the whey-protein based API adhesive for structural use that meet the demands of commercial standards (JIS K6806-2003), to develop a whey-protein based plywood adhesive and optimize the key technological parameters for manufacturing plywood. Our proposed efforts for this year are to: I. Characterize and further optimize the current formulations of API adhesives by means of GPC, SEM, FTIR and tests of bond strength and bond durability. II. Develop and optimize plywood adhesive formulations for increased bonding strength and improved durability, particularly as adapted for the hot-press process. III. Conduct commercial scale testing of constructed plywood in association with the UMaine AEWC; refine and optimize plywood adhesive formulations appropriate for commercial-scale use.