Project

GlueReed: renewable plant material from reed waste

The GlueReed project studies the applicability of reed as a raw material for the production of fibre board materials. The goal of the project is to market a new, sustainable product: a board material made with a biomass-based resin as binder which can be used as an alternative to wood, chipboard and MDF in the building & construction sector and for kitchen & furniture production.

The reed that is used to make the board material comes from the nature areas run by Natuurmonumenten, the Dutch society for nature preservation. Mowing and processing the perennial reeds is expensive while using the biomass as a source for renewable board material will actually generate funds which Natuurmonumenten can reinvest in its nature reserves.

Biobased resin

To develop board material from reed, DSM and Wageningen Food & Biobased Research are jointly working on a green resin to process in the fibre board. The biomass-based binders being developed in this project will facilitate the production of a high-quality board material that meets all technical and ecological requirements. This will provide the building & construction industry and kitchen & furniture producers with a sustainable alternative for board material with synthetic resins from fossil resources.

"The resin we are developing is a major technological challenge but is a significant step towards a circular and biobased economy." - Christiaan Bolck, programme director BPM

This project is a collaboration of Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, DSM Coating Resins, Natuurmonumenten, CS Process Engineering and Compakboard.