SUSBOARD develops the first 100% sustainable, cost-competitive adhesive for wood board production by replacing fossil-based components with bio–based polylysine.
Building on the SUSBIND project‘s results, SUSBOARD scales up production, optimizes board manufacturing processes, and validates performance in industrial settings, delivering a sustainable, formaldehyde-free, and circular solution for the future of furniture manufacturing.
The challenge
The wood-based materials industry is a major industrial sector in Europe, producing around 40 million m³ of particleboards and 20 million m³ of medium-density fiberboards (MDF) annually. These products rely heavily on adhesives, consuming approximately 5 million tonnes of fossil-based adhesives each year.
Most of these adhesives contain formaldehyde, a harmful carcinogen. This not only contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions but also raises health concerns for both workers and end users. A sustainable, safe alternative is urgently needed to reduce the environmental and health impacts associated with current adhesive systems.
The solution
The SUSBOARD project brings together partners from across the value chain, from renewable raw material suppliers to furniture producers, to deliver a 100% bio-based, formaldehyde-free adhesive for industrial board production. Building on the results of the previous SUSBIND project, SUSBOARD takes a step further by replacing the remaining fossil-based components with bio-based polylysine, creating a fully bio-based adhesive solution. This new formulation has already shown superior performance in early testing, outperforming previous bio-based adhesives in strength development. The adhesive will now be scaled to multi-ton production and tested in real industrial applications for both PB and MDF. In parallel, the technical and quality performance of the boards will be validated in furniture manufacturing.
The main impacts
SUSBOARD aims to deliver the first fully bio-based, cost-competitive, and high-performance adhesive for the wood panel industry. Through a Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) analysis, the project will demonstrate significantly reduced environmental impacts, up to 30% lower CO₂ emissions, while eliminating the health risks associated with carcinogenic fossil-based formaldehyde. By developing renewable alternatives, the project contributes to a more circular, climate-neutral, and safer future for furniture production in Europe.
Acknowledgment
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.
Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement 101213812.
