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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Functional Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #384419
Research Project: Development of Enhanced Bio-Based Products from Low Value Agricultural Co-Products and Wastes

Location: Functional Foods Research

Title: Osage orange, honey locust and black locust seed meal adhesives employed to fabricate composite wood panels

Author
item Tisserat, Brent
item ROGERS, HARRY-O'KURU - Retired ARS Employee

Submitted to: FIBERS
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2019
Publication Date: 10/14/2019
Citation: Tisserat, B., Rogers, H. 2019. Osage orange, honey locust and black locust seed meal adhesives employed to fabricate composite wood panels. FIBERS. 7(10):91. https://doi.org/10.3390/fib7100091.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/fib7100091

Interpretive Summary: Organic bio-based adhesives/resins are relatively expensive because they are often employed as food additives. There is great need to identify and develop novel bio-based adhesives/resins. In this study, we developed a bio-based adhesive derived from Osage orange fruits that provides a novel carbohydrate-rich flour that has adhesive properties. Fruits from tree crops offer several advantages over annual crops including less maintenance and higher yields. Fruit adhesives were employed to fabricate composite wood panels (CWPs). CWPs are a type of engineered wood composites (particleboard, medium-density fiberboard, high-density fiberboard, oriented strand board, plywood) which are important building products. Currently, the global wood panel market is worth $91 billion, and the U.S. share of the wood panel market is worth $12 billion. Our CWPs were found to satisfy industrial standards required for commercial use.

Technical Abstract: Seed meal of three trees common to the Midwest region of the USA (Honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos L., family Fabaceae), Osage orange (Maclura pomifera (Raf.) Schneid., family Moraceae) and Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L., family Fabaceae) were tested for their adhesive abilities. Seed meals were employed at dosage levels of 10, 15, 25, 50, 75, and 100% reinforced with Paulownia elongata L. wood (PW) or Osage orange wood (OOW) chips to fabricate composite wood panels (CWPs). A comparison of the flexural properties of various tree seed meal CWPs reinforced with PW showed that their flexural properties met or exceeded European Union standards. However, their dimensional stability properties were inferior to nominal standards. Therefore, tree seed meal CWPs could probably have applications in interior environments where such CWPs accept negligible dimensional stability standards.