Abstract

Widely used in the composite-panel resin industry, formaldehyde is a volatile organic compound that can cause irritation. Controlling these emissions represents a technological and financial challenge, which explains why a significant percentage of workers in Québec composite panel manufacturing plants are exposed to concentrations exceeding the regulatory values. Despite its many advantages, formaldehyde is considered a chemical substance that must be reduced and whose use is becoming increasingly prohibitive. In partnership with the IRSST and with the collaboration of manufacturers in this sector, the Forest Product Processing Research and Expertise Services (SEREX) had the mandate to optimize the resins currently used, by modifying their formulation so that they could be implemented in the environments in question.
The author modified the commercial urea formaldehyde resin, produced panels in the laboratory and on an industrial scale, characterized these panels, and determined the concentration of formaldehyde in the gases emitted during resin modification and panel manufacture and degassing. Not only were the formaldehyde emissions reduced, but the quality of the panels was also slightly improved. The immersion tests also showed that the panels thus produced were more water resistant than the panels manufactured using the conventional resin. The report describes the entire process, the equipment used, as well as the procedure for manufacturing the new resin.