Vancouver-based Lignol Energy Corp. (TSX-V: LEC) has developed a renewable resin adhesive that can be used to make oriented strand board – a composite wood board material used throughout the North American construction industry.
The resin adhesive product uses the company’s proprietary technology – high-performance lignin – which is derived from a wood component. Recent trials conducted by FPInnovations show the product is meeting or exceeding Canadian and American industry quality standards, the company said in a news release.
Company president and CEO Ross MacLachlan said two key selling points of the product are trends toward using green products, plus health and safety regulations banning certain chemicals in building materials in places like California and Japan.
But perhaps more significant to would-be buyers is the cost, MacLachlan said. Lignol’s technology, he explained, replaces a proportion of petrochemicals used in industrial resins.
“Industrial suppliers can’t supply these big swings that you see in pricing volatility in oil because if you have a big spike and a run-up in oil prices, how long does it take them to pass those pricing changes into their supply chain?” he said. “It’s very, very difficult. So increasingly, companies are looking for green and renewable chemicals, yes, because they’re green and environmentally-friendly, but perhaps more importantly, they’re looking at them because they’re looking for stability in the pricing mechanism.”
According to MacLachlan, this new product is only the beginning of what the company hopes to develop for the construction market.
“For Lignol, this paves the way to enormous worldwide markets for high-performance lignin formulations in other applications like particleboard, plywood and [medium density fibreboard] for the composite wood products industry,” he said in a news release.