There is a great demand for biological solutions for adhesives, in order to be able to compose products in an environmentally friendly way. However, the options available to Organic have their limitations.
Water-based adhesives
Intercol only produces waterbased adhesives (starch, PVOH, PVAC, etc.) and adhesives with 100% solids such as hot melt.
Practical feasibility
The practical feasibility of using biological adhesives often proves to be poor. The dilemma here lies mainly in the changed quality requirements that must be imposed on the end product. It is therefore impossible for Intercol to provide you with correct advice if you do not have the basic knowledge yourself.
Glue Development for Industrial Processes
At Intercol we can only handle requests for industrial application with a solid substantiation. For start-ups and schools, we provide information on this page and the option to purchase a sample package, so that you can start gaining experience yourself. We can make a non-binding adhesive proposal for commercially interesting developments. For the development of an adhesive without underlying commercial delivery options, we charge an entry fee of 1500 euros.
Sample pack
In order to introduce you to the biological options in an accessible way, you can order a sample package of (bio) glues in our webshop.
Water resistance
Environmentally friendly adhesives are in principle not waterproof, otherwise they would not dissolve again in the environment.
Constructions
Biological adhesives are generally not suitable for load-bearing or constructive applications (house construction, wood glue, etc.)
to blend
In principle, the glues mentioned below are miscible to maximize the desired properties.
Make your own glue
Many biobased raw materials have a very limited shelf life. This can be adapted industrially for dense packaging. Glues such as starch and dextrin glue are therefore preferably delivered dry.
Starch
- Wheat Starch or Potato Starch
- For materials that are easy to glue, textiles, paper/cardboard, sometimes also glass/ceramic (as a surface, not constructive.
Example of external youtube video on how to make “home” starch glue:
Buy wheat starch online:
https://www.de-zuidmolen.nl/bak-ingredienten/bindmiddelen/tarwezetmeel/
Dextrin
- Industrially processed starch into a modified starch
- For materials that are easy to glue, textiles, paper/cardboard, sometimes also glass/ceramic (as a surface, not constructive.
- The process is very similar to making starch glue. The big difference is the final solids content
You can buy dextrin glue online in another webshop like this one.
saccharide glue
This glue is supplied in liquid form.
It is more of an adhesive than an adhesive. It can lower the water content of the glue or give the glue more wet tack.
PVOH
This is a similar product to starch glues, but PVOH also has better adhering and more water-resistant variants. PVOH adheres to relatively simple materials and transparent films can also be made with it (for e.g. the washing machine blocks). PVOH appears to be completely biodegradable according to a number of studies, such as this one.
Biodegradability
According to the article below, the PVOH group is probably fully biodegradable.
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/tsd-2020-2326/html
- Relatively good water resistant species
- Highly water-soluble species
PVAC
PVAC glue is basically known as the “white wood glue”. It adheres to relatively simple materials such as textiles, glass, paper, cardboard and wood. The dry adhesive film has a hard, transparent and rigid appearance. PVAC adhesives are available in different water resistance classes. Due to its application in wood, reference can be made here to the wood industry.
Biodegradability
According to the article below, the group PVAC is probably completely biodegradable.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287603466_Biodegradability_of_Polyvinyl_acetate_and_Related_Polymers
EVOH
EVOH adhesives or copolymer adhesives are a further developed variant of the PVAC adhesive. EVOH adhesives have a greater bonding range on materials, are more flexible after drying and generally have a faster drying.
Biodegradability
waterproof EVOH plastic films are difficult to biodegrade. Dissolved EVOH is likely to be fully biodegradable.
https://www.adhesivesmag.com/articles/88268-biodegradable-polymers-in-adhesive-systems
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