Traditional wood-based panels are produced with synthetic, formaldehyde-based adhesives, commonly made from fossil-derived constituents, such as urea, phenol, melamine, etc. Along with their numerous advantages, such as chemical versatility, high reactivity and excellent adhesive performance, these adhesives are characterized by certain problems, connected with the hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs), mostly free formaldehyde in the adhesives and the formaldehyde emission from the finished wood composites, which is carcinogenic to humans and harmful to the environment. The growing environmental concerns and stringent legislative requirements to the formaldehyde emission from wood-based panels have posed new challenges to researchers and industrial practice, related to the development of sustainable, eco-friendly wood-based panels with close-to-zero formaldehyde emission. The most common methods to reduce the formaldehyde emission from wood-based panels have been to decrease the free formaldehyde in the adhesive by modifying the adhesive (like lowering the molar ratio of formaldehyde to urea in UF resin) or by using formaldehyde scavengers, one group of scavengers being for adhesives by mixing or reacting and the second one scavengers for wood-based panels as post-treatments. Another way is to use alternative bio-based adhesives, however, there are still substantial challenges for the complete replacement of formaldehyde-based adhesives with bio-based adhesives, mainly because of their relatively low bonding strength, poor water resistance, etc. This article presents a review and analysis of the current state of research in the field of low formaldehyde emission wood adhesives and formaldehyde scavengers for manufacturing low-toxic, eco-friendly wood composites.

The potential of using ground birch (Betula verrucosa Ehrh.) bark as an eco-friendly additive in urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesives for plywood manufacturing was investigated in this work. Five-ply plywood panels were fabricated in the laboratory from beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) veneers bonded with UF adhesive formulations comprising three addition levels of birch bark (BB) as a filler (10%, 15%, and 20%). Two UF resin formulations filled with 10% and 20% wheat flour (WF) were used as reference samples. The mechanical properties (bending strength, modulus of elasticity and shear strength) of the laboratory-fabricated plywood panels, bonded with the addition of BB in the adhesive mixture, were evaluated and compared with the European standard requirements (EN 310 and EN 314-2). The mechanical strength of the plywood with the addition of BB in the adhesive mixture is acceptable and met the European standard requirements. Markedly, the positive effect of BB in the UF adhesive mixture on the reduction of formaldehyde emission from plywood panels was also confirmed. Initially, the most significant decrease in formaldehyde release (up to 14%) was measured for the plywood sample, produced with 15% BB. After four weeks, the decrease in formaldehyde was estimated up to 51% for the sample manufactured with 20% BB. The performed differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), also confirmed the findings of the study. As this research demonstrated, BB as a waste or by-product of wood processing industry, can be efficiently utilized as an environmentally friendly, inexpensive alternative to WF as a filler in UF adhesive formulations for plywood manufacturing.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using magnesium and sodium lignosulfonates (LS) in the production of particleboards, used pure and in mixtures with urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin. Polymeric 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (pMDI) was used as a crosslinker. In order to evaluate the effect of gradual replacement of UF by magnesium lignosulfonate (MgLS) or sodium lignosulfonate (NaLS) on the physical and mechanical properties, boards were manufactured in the laboratory with LS content varying from 0% to 100%. The effect of LS on the pH of lignosulfonate-urea-formaldehyde (LS-UF) adhesive compositions was also investigated. It was found that LS can be effectively used to adjust the pH of uncured and cured LS-UF formulations. Particleboards bonded with LS-UF adhesive formulations, comprising up to 30% LS, exhibited similar properties when compared to boards bonded with UF adhesive. The replacement of UF by both LS types substantially deteriorated the water absorption and thickness swelling of boards. In general, NaLS-UF-bonded boards had a lower formaldehyde content (FC) than MgLS-UF and UF-bonded boards as control. It was observed that in the process of manufacturing boards using LS adhesives, increasing the proportion of pMDI in the adhesive composition can significantly improve the mechanical properties of the boards. Overall, the boards fabricated using pure UF adhesives exhibited much better mechanical properties than boards bonded with LS adhesives. Markedly, the boards based on LS adhesives were characterised by a much lower FC than the UF-bonded boards. In the LS-bonded boards, the FC is lower by 91.1% and 56.9%, respectively, compared to the UF-bonded boards. The boards bonded with LS and pMDI had a close-to-zero FC and reached the super E0 emission class (≤1.5 mg/100 g) that allows for defining the laboratory-manufactured particleboards as eco-friendly composites.

Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most widely used polymers in many industrial applications. Biomedical uses seem to be attractive, with increasing interest. However, PE it prone to infections and its additional surface treatment is indispensable. An increase in resistance to infections can be achieved by treating PE surfaces with substances containing antibacterial groups such as triclosan (5-Chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol) and chlorhexidine (1,1'-Hexamethylenebis[5-(4-chlorophenyl)biguanide]). This work has examined the impact of selected antibacterial substances immobilized on low-density polyethylene (LDPE) via polyacrylic acid (PAA) grafted on LDPE by low-temperature barrier discharge plasma. This LDPE surface treatment led to inhibition of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus adhesion; the first causes intestinal disease, peritonitis, mastitis, pneumonia, septicemia, the latter is the reason for wound and urinary tract infections.

The effects of short-term thermomechanical (STTM) densification temperature and pressure on the changes in surface roughness, wettability, mass loss (ML), thickness and density of alder, beech, birch, and pine wood veneer with low moisture content (~5%) were investigated. The anatomical structure of veneers was also observed. Veneer sheets were densified using pressure levels of 4, 8 and 12 MPa at three temperatures: 100°C, 150°C and 200°C for 4 min. The results were compared with those of the non-densified veneers. The obtained results show that STTM densification of veneers similarly to long-term densification of solid wood causes irreversible changes in their properties. The STTM-densified veneer surfaces became smoother and more hydrophobic, ML increased slightly while roughness and thickness values decreased significantly, the cell lumens collapsed and a certain amount of fractures in cell walls developed with increasing densification temperature and pressure. All of the investigated wood species showed higher density values after densification. It was found that an even STTM densification of veneers provides stable properties under normal atmosphere conditions; in particular, the thickness and contact angle values were stable for 24 hours after densification, which is an important consideration for industrial applications.

Thermoplastic films exhibit good potential to be used as adhesives for the production of veneer-based composites. This work presents the first effort to develop and evaluate composites based on alder veneers and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) film. The effects of hot-pressing temperature (140, 160, and 180 °C), hot-pressing pressure (0.8, 1.2, and 1.6 MPa), hot-pressing time (1, 2, 3, and 5 min), and type of adhesives on the physical and mechanical properties of alder plywood panels were investigated. The effects of these variables on the core-layer temperature during the hot pressing of multiplywood panels using various adhesives were also studied. Three types of adhesives were used: urea–formaldehyde (UF), phenol–formaldehyde (PF), and HDPE film. UF and PF adhesives were used for the comparison. The findings of this work indicate that formaldehyde-free HDPE film adhesive gave values of mechanical properties of alder plywood panels that are comparable to those obtained with traditional UF and PF adhesives, even though the adhesive dosage and pressing pressure were lower than when UF and PF adhesives were used. The obtained bonding strength values of HDPE-bonded alder plywood panels ranged from 0.74 to 2.38 MPa and met the European Standard EN 314-2 for Class 1 plywood. The optimum conditions for the bonding of HDPE plywood were 160 °C, 0.8 MPa, and 3 min.