Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Zero-Emission Reconstituted Wood Panels for Building Interiors
EPA Contract Number: EPD17044Title: Zero-Emission Reconstituted Wood Panels for Building Interiors
Investigators: Balachandra, Anagi
Small Business: Metna Co.
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: I
Project Period: September 1, 2017 through February 28, 2018
Project Amount: $100,000
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase I (2017) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) , SBIR - Green Buildings
Description:
Zero-emission reconstituted wood products were developed using a new class of inorganic polymer binders with an alkali aluminosilicate chemistry defined by high silica-to-alumina ratios. Production methods of zero-emission reconstituted wood products were devised for convenient transition to existing manufacturing facilities without any loss of the productivity. This was accomplished by overcoming the key technical challenge of this development work where the cure time of the inorganic polymer binder was reduced from few hours to few minutes. The project used particleboard and oriented strandboard (OSB) as model reconstituted wood products. Various aspects of the raw materials selection and formulation were refined to improve the balance of physical, mechanical and durability characteristics, moisture and fire resistance, dimensional stability, resistance to fungal growth, and nail withdrawal and lateral resistance provided by the zero-emission reconstituted wood products.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The refined zero-emission products matched or surpassed the key engineering properties of similar commercially available reconstituted wood products. Emission tests confirmed that inorganic polymer binders have zero emission, and their encapsulating effect mitigates emissions from the wood particles/flakes present in particleboard and OSB. The zero-emission reconstituted wood products developed in the project provided distinctly high levels of fire resistance. Pilot-scale investigations provided support for the scalability of the production process of zero-emission reconstituted wood products. Scale-up of the process actually benefited most engineering properties of the resulting products. Competitive analyses were made of the raw materials and production energy costs of zero-emissions particleboard and OSB versus similar commercial products. The results indicated that the transition to the zero-emission reconstituted wood products developed in the project yields cost savings. These savings, which largely result from the relatively low cost of zero-emission inorganic polymer binders when compared with existing organic polymer binders, would greatly facilitate market transition of the technology.
Conclusions:
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Reconstituted wood products can be produced with zero-emission inorganic polymer binders using the processing techniques, including the short press time, that are used currently in production of commercially available reconstituted wood products.
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Refined variations of zero-emission reconstituted wood products with inorganic polymer binders offer physical and mechanical properties, moisture resistance, dimensional stability, nail withdrawal and lateral resistance, stiffness, ductility and toughness, resistance to fungal growth, and fire resistance that match or surpass those provided by similar commercially available products. The zero-emission reconstituted wood products offer distinctly high fire resistance.
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Emission tests confirmed the zero-emission attribute of the inorganic polymer binder developed in the project, and also demonstrated the ability of this binder to mitigate emissions from the wood constituent of reconstituted wood products.
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The raw materials and production energy costs of the zero-emission reconstituted wood products are less than those for similar commercially available reconstituted wood products. Existing production facilities can seamlessly transition to the production of zero-emission products with minimal capital investment while realizing savings in production costs.
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Pilot-scale processing of reconstituted wood products as well as an assess of the mat stability prior to pressing provided strong evidence for scalability of the production process of the zero-emission reconstituted wood products developed in the project.
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The conclusions derived above were equally valid for two representative reconstituted wood products: particleboard, and oriented strandboard (OSB), pointing at their general validity with broad categories of reconstituted wood products.
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Some major challenges had to be overcome towards development of commercially viable and scalable zero-emission reconstituted wood products. Innovative methods and materials formulations were devised and succeessfully verified for overcoming these challenges. A review of existing patents and patent applications identified the novel aspects of these processes and materials formulations. A patent application is under preparation, to be submitted to U.S. PTO in 2018 in order to protect the proprietary rights of Metna Co. with respect to the novel methods and formulations developed in the project.
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.