Dare to be sustainable
For years humankind has burned lignin instead of using it as nature intended – as a superior adhesive. We are here to change that approach.
About VIOBOND
The VIOBOND consortium aims to take essential commercialization steps based on the natural wood component lignin, creating industrial technologies to significantly reduce the share of fossil raw materials in phenol formaldehyde resin, which is widely used in various everyday products.
Under the auspices of the VIOBOND project, a first-of-its-kind flagship plant producing industrial-scale lignin phenol-formaldehyde (LPF) resins will be built in Latvia during the next five years. Production capacity of environmentally friendly resin will reach 45,000 tons per year and renewable lignin will replace over a third of the fossil materials used traditionally. Consortium members will use new resin for plywood manufacturing and coating, sandpaper adhesive and glass wool thermal insulation binder.
Why Are We Joining This Initiative?
The main target of the project is to build a new bio-based resin plant in Latvia, utilizing lignin from different biorefineries to partially replace phenol and formaldehyde in a variety of resin products.
Besides the resin value chain, there are also other lignin valorisation pathways to improve utilization of this valuable bioproduct. Lignin in composite application, as a replacement for bitumen in asphalt, advanced fuels and lignin carbon applications are currently among the most promising commercialization routes.
How Are We Going To Achieve This?
Replacing Toxic With Natural
Most plants, including trees of all species, contain 20-30% of lignin, a natural biopolymer that together with cellulose and hemicellulose forms the wood cell structure that allows trees to grow in length.
Nowadays, science and technologies have developed to the point that people can divide wood into its components. Phenol and formaldehyde, which are the compounds of the most commonly used resins, are harmful to humans, whereas lignin is a natural, sustainable by-product.
Extracted From Wood
Non-modified lignin is extracted from wood by means of unique technologies. After this process, lignin is already suitable for modification, which will be used for production of lignin-based resins for wide industrial applications. Examples include plywood, thermal insulation, sandpaper, floor and furniture production, etc.
Lignin resin can be used not only to produce plywood, but also in production of impregnated paper, which is used for plywood to reduce any unnecessary friction.
Why Lignin?
Historically, lignin was a by-product in the production of pulp, which, together with other by-products, was mainly used as a fuel for energy production. In recent years, the development of novel wood-processing technologies has made it possible to extract from wood chemically non-modified lignin highly suitable for further chemical modifications and functionalization.
Facts
5
5 year project
9
9 partners
32
€ 32 millions investments
45
45 000 tons of resin annualy
Latest News
Renewable Resources & Biorefineries conference in Riga
On June 1, the VIOBOND project was presented at the RRB Conference in Riga, in a presentation on Birch biomass transformation in Latvijas Finieris.
Chempolis’ new lignin precipitation system at Oulu Pilot is now in production
The high focus on the development of lignin has produced a visible result at our experimental pilot facility Chempolis in Oulu, Finland. Our new 6Pck system is in operation with full speed. The tailor-made system based on our own development and engineering is dedicated to both R&D and production purposes of different lignin slurries from…
Bioeconomics School expedition
On February 17th, we met with high schoolers during the “Latvia’s State Forests” (LVM) Bioeconomics School expedition which took place at the Latvian State Forestry Institute Silava to discuss the VIOBOND project and the potential of biorefining.
Riga driving European innovations in natural wood adhesive use
Read the latest issue of Baltic Business Quarterly to learn how we are driving European innovations in natural wood adhesive use to reduce the use of fossil phenol & formaldehyde.
VIOBOND – a Step Closer to More Sustainable Industrial Resin Production
The initial stage of the VIOBOND international consortium project has concluded, as a result of which a major step has been taken on the road to more sustainable industrial resin production, which is due to begin in Riga during the next five years at the production plant of the project’s lead partner Latvijas Finieris. During…
The VIOBOND consortium will replace fossil resources with renewable lignin in everyday consumer products
9 partners from 5 European Union Member States have joined forces in the VIOBOND project worth EUR 35 million to establish a new, unique bio-based resin plant in Latvia.
Partners
