CA1084829A - Lignin-based synthetic resin - Google Patents

Lignin-based synthetic resin

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Publication number
CA1084829A
CA1084829A CA253,966A CA253966A CA1084829A CA 1084829 A CA1084829 A CA 1084829A CA 253966 A CA253966 A CA 253966A CA 1084829 A CA1084829 A CA 1084829A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
lignin
phenol
formaldehyde
adhesive
solution
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA253,966A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Ingvar Johansson
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Svenska Traforskningsinstitutet
Original Assignee
Svenska Traforskningsinstitutet
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Svenska Traforskningsinstitutet filed Critical Svenska Traforskningsinstitutet
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1084829A publication Critical patent/CA1084829A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • CCHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C09DYES; PAINTS; POLISHES; NATURAL RESINS; ADHESIVES; COMPOSITIONS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; APPLICATIONS OF MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • C09JADHESIVES; NON-MECHANICAL ASPECTS OF ADHESIVE PROCESSES IN GENERAL; ADHESIVE PROCESSES NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE; USE OF MATERIALS AS ADHESIVES
    • C09J197/00Adhesives based on lignin-containing materials
    • C09J197/005Lignin
    • CCHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C08ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
    • C08LCOMPOSITIONS OF MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS
    • C08L2666/00Composition of polymers characterized by a further compound in the blend, being organic macromolecular compounds, natural resins, waxes or and bituminous materials, non-macromolecular organic substances, inorganic substances or characterized by their function in the composition
    • C08L2666/02Organic macromolecular compounds, natural resins, waxes or and bituminous materials

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
The present invention provides a method of joining wood products together with an adhesive, comprising the steps of:
mixing lignin with a solution consisting essentially of phenol and a compound selected from the class consisting of formaldehyde and a substance yielding formaldehyde at a low temperature such that no substantial reaction takes place so that said phenol and said formaldehyde are absorbed by said lignin, applying said lignin-phenol-formaldehyde mixture to the wood surfaces of said wood products to be joined, and reacting said phenol and said formaldehyde with said lignin by heating so that a hardened lignin adhesive joins said wood products.

Description

1~)848Z9 LIGNI~-BASED S~NTH~TIC RESIN
The present invention relates to a novel method of treating lignin, primarily lignin obtained from cellulose indus-trial waste liquors, lignosulphonates and sulphate lignin to enable said lignin to be used as a synthetic resin, particularly as a binding agent in the manufacture, for example, of chipboard and plywood.
Lignin can be said to be the natural adhesive substance in wood and consequently it is not surprising that lignin in different forms has been tested as a binding agent in wood-based ~roducts of different types.
Lignin in the form of lignosulphonic acids, most often in the form of sulphite liquor which has been modified to a greater or lesser degree, has been tested, for example, in the so-called Pedersen Process (Danish Patent 100,984). According to this method, which provides weather-resistant chipboard of very high quality, the pH of the liquor is lowered with an acid, whereafter the liquor is sprayed on the chips. Curing is effected in two stages, first hot pressing and then hardening for a relatively long period of time (1 - 2 hours) in an autoelave. The proeess is thus eomplieated and time-eonsuming when earried out on an industrial seale. The aeidity of the binder also ereates serious eorrosion problems. A similar process whieh utilises the aeidi-fieation of sulphite liquor is described in Forest Products Journal 24 (1975) 2, 3~. According to this process, which is applied in the manufacture of so-called wafter-board, the chip material is first sprayed with a 15 to 20% sulphuric acid solution.
The acidified ehip material is then admixed with sulphite waste liquor powder. The process is said to afford an economical àdvan-tage and to impart good mechanical strength to the board material,although the acidity of the material (pH approx. equal to 2.5) means that the process and the material, from the aspect of cor-- 1 - ~

``~ 11~84829 rosion, and the long-term properties of the material must be held in serious doubt.
A large number of methods for modifying lignin so that it is more suitable for use as an adhesive has been tested and patents applied for.
The German Patent Specification 1,223,534 proposes the admixture of melamine-formaldehyde resins, while Roffael and Rauch (Holzforschung 25 (1971) 5, 149 and 26 (1972) 6, 197) proposes the admixture of different forms of phenol resins. The disadvan-tage with these methods, which provide high quality board, is that large quantities of synthetic resin are still required in order to obtain material properties equal to those which would be obtained solely with synthetic resins. What has been achieved is that approximately 25% of the synthetic resin has been replaced with lignosulphonic acids with no appreciable adverse effect on the properties of the material.
Lignin has also been used as a replacement for phenol in the manufacture of phenol resins to a greater or lesser extent.
In this case the ability of the lignin, similar to that of phenol, of reacting with formaldehyde has been utilised. In this way there is obtained a copolymer of lignin-phenol-formaldehyde which can be used as an adhesive.
According to U.S. Patent Specification No. 3,597,375 lignosulphonate is first reacted with phenol under alkaline con-ditions, whereafter the reaction mixture is reacted with formal-dehyde.
According to U.S. Patent Specification No. 3,227,667, lignin is first reacted with phenol under acid conditions, where-after the xeaction product is reacted with formaldehyde under alkaline conditions. Swedish Patent No. 371,645 discloses a method in which a quantity of formaldehyde is added in the first stage.

1~)84829 The disadvantage with these methods is the relatively complicated method of manufacture and the large quantity (more than half dry weight) of synthetic resin components (phenol +
formaldehyde) required. Another disadvantage is that, from the adhesion aspect, the lignin molecules, which are from the start slightly too large, are made even larger. The result of this is that large quantities of lignin-phenol-formaldehyde resin must be used in order to obtain the desired properties of physical strength of the board material produced. In actual fact, with some of the aforementioned methods, the quantity of phenol +
formaldehyde in the binding agents used has been greater than in board produced solely with pure phenol resins.
To illustrate the background of the present Application, the molecular size of an effective wood adhesive must be discussed.
It is important that the molecules of the binding agent are neither too large nor too small. If the molecules are too small, then they penetrate the surface of the wood to an excessive extent and the proportion of the binding agent which remains between the two sur-faces to be joined is too small for the purpose. When, for ;
example, a mixture of phenol and formaldehyde (phenol-formaldehyde solution) which has not been precondensed is used as an adhesive, practically no binding effect is obtained at all. On the other hand, if the molecules are too large, the jointing surfaces are -not sufficiently penetrated whereby the adhesion therebetween is not that desired. Consequently, the molecular weight of phenol adhesive for wood-glueing purposes lies between 200 - 300, while the sulphate lignin lies between 1000 and 2000. The mean molecular weight of lignosulphonates obtained from coniferous (softwood) wood is about 10,000.
A further undesirable property of the unmodified lignin with regard to adhesion is the tendency of the lignin molecules to lump together to form agglomerates of relatively low plasticity ~' ,- . ..

` 1~8482~

and the relatively few groups possessed by the lignin capable of cross-linking.
It has now been found that when the lignin, which is not directly suitable for use as a wood adhesive, is mixed with chemicals oflow molecular weight which (1) are capable of swelling the agglomerate of lignin molecules, (2) impart additional cross-linking possibilities to the adhesive, (3) when pressing the glued joint surfaces together are capable of being pressed from the lignin to a certain extent and to penetrate the wood material at the joint surfaces and there with form a bridge between wood sub-stance and adhesive, there is obtained a fully satisfactory adhesive.
One such chemical is the previously mentioned mixture of phenol and formaldehyde, which in itself is completely unusable as an adhesive. The surprising fact is that if, for example, pre-cipitated and air-dried sulphate lignin and a phenol-formaldehyde solution, which in itself affords no adhesive effect, are mixed together there is obtained an adhesive which exhibits excellent adhesion properties.
Accordingly the invention relates, in general, to a synthetic resin product which can be used, in particular, for the glueing of wood products and for the manufacture of shaped objects said synthetic resin product comprising lignin and a low-molecular weight liquid substance which is capable of penetrating and swell-ing lignin and which can be reacted with lignin to form a hardened product, the liquid substance being physically absorbed in the lignin. Hardening of the lignin may be effected, for example, by heating the same to a suitable temperature or by admixing said lignin with a hardener which will cause hardening to take place at room-temperature or a moderately raised temperature.
In the present context the term "lignin" is not used solely with reference to lignin as such, but also, for example, with reference to lignosulphonates and similar lignin derivatives i~84~329 which possess substantially the same properties as lignin and which can react in the same manner with the liquid substance used in accordance with the invention. The lignin may be present in the form of a purified product, although crude lignin containing sugar and similar compounds may be used, for example, spray-dried sulphite waste liquor.
As previously indicated, a suitable liquid substance for use in accordance with the invention is a solution of formal-dehyde in phenol, optionally in combination with an acid or alkaline hardener. Such a solution may be readily prepared by melting phenol and adding formaldehyde (for example in the form of paraformaldehyde). The mixing ratio of phenol to formaldehyde may vary as desired, depending upon the desired properties of the finished product, although this ratio generally lies between 3:1 and 1.5:1, preferably between 2.2:1 and 1.8:1.
The hardener used for the phenol-formaldehyde solution `~
may be known acid and alkaline hardeners normally used for phenol aldehyde resins. Examples of acid hardeners include ammonium chloride and paratoluene sulphonic acid, while examples of alka-line hardeners include sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide and ammonium hydroxide. The hardener may be dissolved in the phenol formaldehyde solution or may be admixed with the lignin separately at the same time as the mixing of the solution. The solution is used generally in quantitiesof between 0.1 - 5%, preferably 1 - 2%
calculated on the weight of the total synthetic resin product.
The synthetic resin product is prepared by simple mixing processes, suitably at room-temperature or a temperature slightly higher than room-temperature, in any event at a temperature which is so low that no substantial reaction takes place between the lignin and the solution. The lignin can be used in powder form, i.e. in the form of a purified precipitate from black liquor or in the form of a lignosulphonate recovered from sulphite waste liquor.

The lignin and the phenol-formaldehyde solution is mixed in proportions which may vary between 1:10 and 100:1, preferably - between 1:1 and 10:1, depending upon the desired properties of the product. In the case of an adhesive, the mixing ratio is con-veniently selected so as to obtain a paste-like consistency or a viscous consistency reminiscent of conventional glue. Suitable mixing proportions can be readily established empirically. In-stead of ordinary phenol (i.e. hydroxybenzene) other phenols such as m- or p-cresol can be used. Similarly it is possible to substitute the formaldehyde with other aldehydes, such as furfural.
Instead of phenol and aldehyde, it is also possible to use other liquid substances capable of absorbing lignin and of reacting therewith, i.e. liquid substances which have the afore-mentioned properties. -When used as an adhesive, the synthetic resin product according to the invention is applied to the joint surfaces in the normal manner. When applying the product to chipboard, the adhesive is applied to the chips prior to the chips being pressed, ~ -in the form of a powder, a water-free liquid or a water-dispersion.
The product is then heated, conveniently under pressure, to harden same. During heatin~ of the product, the added liquid sub-stance reacts with the lignin, and when, for example, a phenol-aldehyde solution is used, the components naturally react with each other. In addition, during the pressing operation part of the liquid substance will apparently be pressed out of the lignin and penetrate into the bonded surfaces, e.g. wood surfaces, there-by to form a bridge between said surfaces and the lignin, which results in the formation of a strong joint.
The product can also be used as a moulding compound for the production of moulded objects by pressure-moulding and similar methods, normally used for the manufacture of products from thermo-setting resins.

1~)848Z9 The invention will now be illustrated by means of an example.
EXAMPLE
Sulphate lignin was precipitated and purified in the following manner: The lignin was precipitated from black liquor with H2SO4 and filtered at 60C. The precipitate (lO0 g) was purified from salts precipitated simultaneously therewith by slurrying the precipitate in water (lO0 ml) stirring and centri-fuging the mixture and air-drying the same to a light-brown powder having a moisture content of 3.6~. The lignin thus produced had an ash content of 3.7% (absolutely dry).
A phenol-formaldehyde solution was prepared in the ~ !
following manner: lO0 g phenol were melted and heated to approxi-mately 80C. 50 g paraformaldehyde were added whilst stirring.
After about 30 minutes all the paraformaldehyde had decomposed and dissolved in the phenol. I'he mixture was maintained at 80C
for a further 3 - 5 hours. In this way there was obtained a harden-able solution of low viscosity of formaldehyde in phenol at a mixing ratio of 1:2, said solution being clear even at room-temperature.
A lignin product which could be used as an adhesive was prepared in the following manner: 10 g of the sulphate lignin prepared in accordance with the above was admixed with 5 g of phenol-formaldehyde solution and 0.5 g NH4Cl. This mixture was stirred for some minutes at room-temperature and obtained a con-sistency reminiscent of a normal plywood adhesive. The adhesive thus produced was used to glue a 2 mm pine veneer to a lO mm chip-board. The pressing operation was maintained for 5 minutes at a temperature of 150C and a pressure of 5 kg/cm2. A good glue joint was obtained. When subjected to splitting tests a practi-cally 100% wood fracture was obtained. Two pieces of veneer were tested with respect to their transverse strength in accordance with ~ 48Z9 SIS 234801. In both bases fracture occurred at 5.44 and 5.72 kg/cm2, respectively.

::

. :.

Claims (10)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A method of joining wood products together with an adhesive, comprising the steps of: mixing lignin with a solution consisting essentially of phenol and a compound selected from the class consisting of formaldehyde and a substance yielding formaldehyde at a low temperature such that no substantial reaction takes place so that said phenol and said formaldehyde are absorbed by said lignin, applying said lignin-phenol-formaldehyde mixture to the wood surfaces of said wood products to be joined, and reacting said phenol and said formaldehyde with said lignin by heating so that a hardened lignin adhesive joins said wood products.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the liquid substance comprises a solution of formaldehyde in phenol containing an acid or an alkaline hardener.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the mixing ratio lignin/phenol-formaldehyde solution is between 1:10 and 100:1.
4. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the mixing ratio phenol to formaldehyde in the phenol-formaldehyde solution is between 3:1 and 1.5:1.
5. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the acid hardener comprises ammonium chloride, paratoluene sulphonic acid or the like and constitutes between 0.1 - 5% of the weight of the lignin product.
6. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the alkaline hardener comprises sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide or the like, and constitutes between 0.1 - 5% of the weight of the lignin product.
7. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said mixing ratio of said lignin to said phenol-formaldehyde is between 1 to 1 and 10 to 1.
8. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein said mixing ratio of said phenol to said formaldehyde in said phenol-formaldehyde solution is between 2.2 to 1 and 1.8 to 1.
9. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said amount of said acid hardener constitutes from 1 to 2% by weight of said lignin adhesive.
10. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said alkaline hardener constitutes 1 to 2% by weight of said lignin adhesive.
CA253,966A 1975-06-08 1976-06-03 Lignin-based synthetic resin Expired CA1084829A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
SE7506833-8 1975-06-08
SE7506833A SE416815B (en) 1975-06-13 1975-06-13 PROCEDURE FOR SUBMISSION OF THREE WITH BINDING AGENT BASED ON LIGNIN

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1084829A true CA1084829A (en) 1980-09-02

Family

ID=20324869

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA253,966A Expired CA1084829A (en) 1975-06-08 1976-06-03 Lignin-based synthetic resin

Country Status (4)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1084829A (en)
DE (1) DE2624673A1 (en)
FI (1) FI761699A (en)
SE (1) SE416815B (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US10487101B2 (en) 2013-11-26 2019-11-26 Upm-Kymmene Corporation Method for treating lignin and for producing a binder composition

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US10487101B2 (en) 2013-11-26 2019-11-26 Upm-Kymmene Corporation Method for treating lignin and for producing a binder composition
US11891410B2 (en) 2013-11-26 2024-02-06 Upm-Kymmene Corporation Method for treating lignin and for producing a binder composition

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
SE416815B (en) 1981-02-09
FI761699A (en) 1976-12-14
SE7506833L (en) 1976-12-14
DE2624673A1 (en) 1976-12-30

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