Nanocellulose-Phenol Formaldehyde Adhesive System for Engineered Wood Products: Review

Incorporating cellulose nanomaterials into wood adhesives has recently been considered for improving sustainability within wood composite panels. The role of nanocellulose in such an application is mainly determined by nanocellulose dimension, form, morphological and physicochemical properties, characteristics of an adhesive system, and chemical interaction of nanocellulose and adhesive, as well as the dispersion and the orientation of nanomaterials in the polymeric matrix of adhesive. Phenol formaldehyde (PF) adhesives have been extensively used in engineered wood products for decades, and concerns about their brittleness led to continued research efforts for modifying the resin. Recently, the developments in the bio-economy and the nanocellulose industry provided new possibilities for PF adhesive modification and its structural reinforcement with a renewable, biodegradable, abundant, and mechanically strengthened resource. This paper aims to review and demonstrate the available research on the development of nanocellulose-reinforced PF as an adhesive matrix for engineered wood products, in particular, plywood, particleboard, and oriented strand board.