Synthesis of Humin-Phenol-Formaldehyde Adhesive

Shimin Kang; Jinxia Fu; Gang Zhang; Wentao Zhang; Huibin Yin; Yongjun Xu

doi:10.3390/polym9080373

Synthesis of Humin-Phenol-Formaldehyde Adhesive

Polymers (Basel). 2017 Aug 18;9(8):373. doi: 10.3390/polym9080373.

Authors

Shimin Kang¹, Jinxia Fu², Gang Zhang³, Wentao Zhang⁴, Huibin Yin⁵, Yongjun Xu⁶

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China. kangshimin@dgut.edu.cn.
² Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. jinxiafu@hawaii.edu.
³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China. 2015804@dgut.edu.cn.
⁴ Dongguan Cleaner Production Center, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China. zhangwt@dgut.edu.cn.
⁵ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China. yinhb@dgut.edu.cn.
⁶ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China. xuyj@dgut.edu.cn.

Abstract

Humins are low-value-added byproducts from the biomass acid hydrolysis process. In the present work, humins were first employed as a phenol replacement for synthesis of modified phenol-formaldehyde adhesives through a two-step process. In this process, humins were first utilized to obtain alkaline soluble products, mainly consisting of phenolics, through a hydrothermal process. The obtained alkaline soluble products then reacted with phenol and formaldehyde to produce humin-phenol-formaldehyde adhesive (HPFA). The physicochemical properties of HPFA, including viscosity, bonding strength, pH, free formaldehyde level, free phenol level and solid content, met the requirements of the GB/T 14732-2006 Chinese National Standard.

Keywords: humins; hydrolysis; hydrothermal treatment; phenol-formaldehyde adhesive.