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Environmental benefits of soy-based bio-adhesives as an alternative to formaldehyde-based options

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Abstract

The restrictions imposed on the use of formaldehyde in wood panel adhesives have been the driving force behind the development of formaldehyde-free resins for the manufacture of wood products. Considering as a boundary condition the idea that the use of fossil-based raw materials should be replaced by biological options, there is growing interest in the environmental assessment of different alternatives for soy-based adhesives, as possible options to replace commonly used synthetic resins. This report includes the environmental profiles of soy-based adhesives taking into account the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. In addition, in order to increase their potential to replace synthetic resins, a sensitivity analysis of the main contributors to environmental damage was performed, thus giving an open guide for further research and improvement. This study aims to provide innovative alternatives and new trends in the field of environmentally friendly bio-adhesives for the wood panel industry.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).

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Funding

This research has been financially supported by ERA-CoBIOTech (PCI2018-092866) WooBAdh project. Dr. S. González García thanks to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for financial support (Grant reference RYC-2014-14984). The authors belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group (GRC ED431C 2017/29) and to CRETUS Strategic Partnership (ED431E 2018/01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRETUS Institute, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Ana Arias, Sara González-García, Gumersindo Feijoo & Maria Teresa Moreira

Authors
  1. Ana Arias
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  2. Sara González-García
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  3. Gumersindo Feijoo
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  4. Maria Teresa Moreira
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Contributions

AA has developed the investigation, writing—original draft preparation, and writing–review and editing of the manuscript; SGG contributed to reviewing tasks; GF conceptualized and supervised the submitted manuscript; MTM contributions consisted on writing–review and editing, conceptualization, and supervision. All authors have read and agreed the final submitted manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ana Arias.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Ta Yeong Wu

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Arias, A., González-García, S., Feijoo, G. et al. Environmental benefits of soy-based bio-adhesives as an alternative to formaldehyde-based options. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 29781–29794 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12766-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12766-4

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