Antonio Pizzi

By Antonio Pizzi and Anish Khan

In this chapter, we discuss pure furanic foams and tannin-furanic foams as fire-resistant, environmentally friendly, rigid biofoams. We also examine furanic wood adhesives in which a major furan portion is coupled with either synthetics or bioadhesives. In the case of furanic wood bioadhesives, the formulations developed were 90–100% biosourced. Equally, furanic rigid plastics of considerable mechanical resistance have also been developed and applied to angle-grinder discs and automotive brakes with very encouraging results.

Part of the book: Furan Derivatives

By Antonio Pizzi

Recently several developments on the use of lignin and its derivatives as wood adhesive and for other binders have come to the fore in the literature. The novelty of these approaches has been dictated by the well-known low reactivity of lignin with aldehydes in its substitution of phenol in phenol-formaldehyde resins. A brief record of the more recent novelties having being published on the use of lignin in the more traditional field of lignin-phenol-formaldehyde (LPF) adhesive resins is reported. However, this review chapter is more focused on the types of more recent alternative approaches that have been used with encouraging results to go around the obstacle of the low lignin-aldehyde reactivity. Thus, approaches based on lignin demethylation coupled with specific oxidation, pre-glyoxalated lignin dialdehyde starch cross-linking by urea, lignin-based non isocyanate polyurethane (NIPU) adhesives and resins, lignin amine coatings, lignin-triethyl phosphate cross-linking for both wood surface coatings and biobinders for metals/Teflon assemblies, and finally direct wood bonding by lignin esterification by citric acid are described.

Part of the book: Advanced Lignin Technologies