Greener homes, greener economy Revolutionary adhesive developed
at the FRL creates jobs and reduces hazardous emissions. The
environmentally friendly, cost-competitive adhesive inspired by
the way mussels cling tightly to rocks on the Oregon coast has
generated a wave of new businesses and green products that have
reduced formaldehyde emissions by over 90% in mills and homes.
Professor Kaichang Li of OSU’s Forest Research Laboratory worked
collaboratively with private industry to develop a unique curing
agent that is able to convert inexpensive, abundant soybean
flour into a superior adhesive for bonding wood composite panels
such as plywood and particleboard. The award-winning, non-toxic
adhesive modeled after mussel adhesive protein has been used to
produce more than 30 million hardwood plywood panels for the
green building industry in the last four years. New products
made from the adhesive have allowed manufacturers to maintain
1,700 jobs in four states, including Oregon, during the economic
downturn.