Wood-based composite made of wood waste and epoxy based ink-waste as adhesive: A cleaner production alternative

The search for materials made from renewable sources and free from toxic substances is a global trend towards a cleaner production, and this can be extended to the development of wood-based panels. World production of wood-based panels in 2014 was 388 million cubic meters, which represents an increase of 34% compared to 2010. However, the industrial sector of wood-based panels has been facing some gaps and challenges regarding the toxic emissions coming from conventional adhesives applied to the manufacture of panels. Faced with these problems, the aim of this study was to assess the technical feasibility and environmental aspects of manufacturing a particleboard made with wood waste and epoxy based ink-waste as adhesive. To this end, the particleboard reinforcement phase was made of particles of wood waste of Pinus sp. and Teak (Tectona grandis) species, while residual ink resin-based epoxy was used as alternative adhesive to reduce demand for urea formaldehyde resin. Particleboards were manufactured and tested by varying some production parameters, namely: low, medium and high-density panel classifications; 20, 30 and 40% epoxy resin content; and mixture of Pinus and Teak wood waste particles from 0, 25, 50, 75, 100%. Physical-mechanical performance of the manufactured particleboards were evaluated according to ABNT NBR 14810 (2013) and ANSI A208.1 (2009) Standard Codes. Statistical analyzes based on Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test the influence of each individual factor (density, adhesive percentage and fraction of Pinus/Teak particles) and their interactions under the physical-mechanical properties. Results showed a satisfactory performance in terms of physical and mechanical properties for treatments with high density (up to 0.80 g/cm³), 30–40% epoxy based ink-waste adhesive and 50–100% Teak wood particles. In most of the cases, the evaluated properties were superior to the compared requirements available at Standard Codes. Finally, it was developed an environmental performance of the particleboards based on a simplified Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, and results highlighted some positive environmental aspects as well as social-economic benefits, especially for suppliers of wood waste and resin epoxy residues, and also due to minimization of air releases of free formaldehyde and energy consumption in the production of panels.