Lignin represents a major component of forestry and biorefinery processing. Current and projected lignin availabilities make this material an attractive renewable feed-stock for the chemical industry, including adhesive, resin and plastics applications. As an example, much work has been undertaken to develop lignin use in phenolic resins given the chemical-likeness of polyphenolic lignin with phenol. However, arguably, a perceived low reactivity of lignin has hindered commercial implementation of lignin-based phenolic adhesives. This perhaps is a result of the adhesive manufacturer's paradigm of trying to directly substitute petrochemicals with renewables. In our work, we have been investigating new adhesive systems using totally biobased approaches which leverage the inherent chemistry of biocomponents and avoid using petrochemicals as cross-linkers. As part of our efforts we have been investigating the inclusion of lignin as a building block for these totally biobased systems. Discussed are some emerging results of our approach to leveraging the inherent chemistry of lignin on formulating adhesives.

Inclusion of lignin as a building block for biobased adhesives

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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