Evaluation of synthetic bio-phenol resins derived from biomass gasification in bio-adhesive formulation

Abstract

Bio-phenol formaldehyde adhesives formulated from sustainable biomass sources is an excellent alternative to phenolic petroleum-based adhesives with lower pollution level. This study aimed to formulate bio-adhesive from two types of biomass namely palm kernel shell (PKS) and Leucaena sp. Wood. The intention was to find the best process condition which results in maximum content of bio-phenol in the product. The bio-based phenolic resins (bio-oils) were produced from gasification process and their physical and chemical properties were determined. Both produced bio-oils were involved in formulation of bio-based phenol formaldehyde adhesives (resinification) at different operating conditions (temperature, time and catalyst loading). The chemical functional groups and individual compounds of the phenol resins and bio-adhesive samples were identified by GC-MS. The results indicated that temperature has persistent increasing effect on phenol percent of the bio-oil from Leucaena sp. wood however for the bio-oil from PKS the increase of phenol was until the temperature of 85 °C. Reaction time and catalyst loading were observed to have similar effects on resinification of both bio-oil samples. The bio-adhesive produced under best operating condition has the highest amount of bio-phenol and therefore is considered an environmental friendly adhesive with lower cost and pollution than the petroleum-based types.