Particleboards are almost indispensable in furniture manufacturing and interior construction. However, many conventional wood-based materials are produced using petrochemical binders, which are neither fully bio-based nor easily biodegradable.
We show that there is a more sustainable way: stable wood fibreboards can be produced from fast-growing plant residues such as miscanthus, hemp shives and Japanese knotweed. Chitosan itaconate serves as the binder, obtained from food-industry residues and itaconic acid.
During hot pressing, the binder polymerizes into a water-insoluble interpolyelectrolyte complex. This results in fibreboards with remarkable properties: their flexural strength reaches up to 76.5 N/mm², clearly exceeding typical MDF values and approaching that of solid spruce wood. At the same time, the fibreboards remain dimensionally stable upon contact with water, are compostable and showed self-extinguishing behaviour in fire tests.
What makes this approach particularly exciting is its versatility. The binder works with a wide range of cellulose- and lignin-containing plant materials. This could allow regional residues to be processed locally into high-quality building and furniture materials in the future. We are convinced that this represents a promising step towards wood-based materials that are strong, safe and circular. Our aim is to transform waste materials into true high-performance materials.
N. Münstermann, O. Weichold
High-strength particleboards from fast-growing plant residues and food-industry by-products using chitosan-itaconate as orthogonal binder platform
Industrial Crops and Products, 2026, 245, 123251 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2026.123251
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