Sustainable Phenolic Fractions as Basis for Furfuryl Alcohol-Based Co-Polymers and Their Use as Wood Adhesives

Abstract

Furfuryl alcohol is a very interesting green molecule used in the production of biopolymers. In the present paper, the copolymerization in acid environment with natural, easily-available, phenolic derivatives is investigated. The processes of polymerization of the furfuryl alcohol with: (i) spent-liquor from the pulping industry and (ii) commercial tannin from acacia mimosa were investigated though viscometry and IR-spectroscopy. The curing kinetics of the formulations highlighted the importance of the amount of furfuryl alcohol and catalyst as well as the effect of temperature for both phenolic-furanic polymers. Evidence of covalent copolymerization has been observed through infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and confirmed with additional solubility tests. These bio-based formulations were applied as adhesives for solid wood and particleboards with interesting results: at 180 • C, the spent-liquor furanic formulations allow wood bonding slightly with lower performance than PVA in dry conditions, while mixed formulations allow the gluing of particleboard with only satisfactory internal bonding tests.

Toward poly(furfuryl alcohol) applications diversification: Novel self‐healing network and toughening epoxy–novolac resin

“…It is established that PFA includes a complicated mixture of linear oligomers and branched low‐molecular weight polymers . It consists 2,5‐substituted, 2‐hydroxymethylated, and terminal furan rings, γ‐diketone groups, etc .…”

“…Poly(furfuryl alcohol) (PFA; furan resin), the product of self‐condensation of FA, is a bio‐based resin with good thermal and chemical properties. The classical uses of the furan‐based resins include metal casting cores and molds, corrosion‐resistant coatings, polymer concretes, wood adhesives, sand consolidation and well plugging, low flammability, and low smoke release materials and carbonaceous products including graphitic electrodes and carbon microparticles . Some of more recent applications of PFA are novel polymer concretes, wood preservation and stabilization, bio‐based nanocomposites, and also high‐tech materials like composite membranes carbon–silica and PFA–silica materials, nanostructured and nanocomposite carbons, sol–gel‐based nanocomposites, and aerogels …”

Fabrication and Characterization of Graphene Microcrystal Prepared from Lignin Refined from Sugarcane Bagasse

“…The chemical composition of lignin is shown in Figure 2 , where (a) is the structural fragment of lignin polymer; and (b) shows the chemical structures of three composition monomers of lignin: p -Coumaryl alcohol, coniferyl alcohol, and sinapyl alcohol, respectively [ 45 , 46 ]. The chemical structure of lignin, shown in Figure 2 a, is an approximate description, as the composition of lignin varies from species to species.…”

“…Particularly, lignin contains both sp 2 and sp 3 carbon atoms at a ratio of approximately 33:12, which is very favorable for the composition of glassy carbon [ 10 , 48 ]. Lignin is, in fact, the precursor of phenol formaldehyde and furfuryl alcohol-phenol [ 46 , 49 ], the traditional raw materials of glassy carbon.…”

Nanopaper Properties and Adhesive Performance of Microfibrillated Cellulose from Different (Ligno-)Cellulosic Raw Materials

“…Tannins as a bio-based adhesive component extracted from the bark or xylem of trees are polyhydroxyphenols which start auto condensation when hexamine is added. Particleboards with internal bond strength of 0.9 MPa are already reported [1,3,4,5].…”