How Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Supports the Development of Sustainable Bio-Based Adhesives in SUSBOARD

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The wood-based panel industry plays a crucial role in Europe’s furniture and construction sectors, producing millions of cubic metres of particleboard (PB) and medium-density fibreboard (MDF) every year. While these products often incorporate renewable wood resources and recycled materials, they still rely heavily on fossil-based adhesives, many of which contain formaldehyde, a substance associated with significant environmental and health concerns.

SUSBOARD aims to replace fossil-derived adhesive components with renewable alternatives such as activated carbohydrate syrups and bio-based polylysine while maintaining industrial performance and cost competitiveness. To ensure that these innovative materials deliver genuine environmental benefits, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is being applied across the project value chain.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a scientific methodology used to evaluate the environmental impacts associated of a product, process, or service throughout its entire life cycle.

For wood-based panels and adhesives, this includes all stages from raw material sourcing and adhesive production to board manufacturing, use, and end-of-life management. By analysing this holistic approach, LCA helps quantify environmental indicators such as:

• Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
• Energy consumption
• Resource use
• Water consumption
• Waste generation
• Environmental impacts associated with manufacturing and disposal

This approach allows researchers and industry stakeholders to identify environmental hotspots and avoid shifting impacts from one stage of the value chain to another.

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LCA is a key component of SUSBOARD’s Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) approach, supporting the development of adhesive systems that are not only high-performing but also environmentally responsible.

One of its most important functions is identifying which processes contribute most significantly to environmental impacts. These may include feedstock production, adhesive manufacturing, board production, transportation, or end-of-life treatment. Understanding these hotspots allows project partners to optimise processes and improve overall sustainability.

LCA also enables direct comparisons between conventional fossil-based formaldehyde adhesives and the innovative bio-based alternatives being developed within SUSBOARD. Such comparisons help determine whether the new solutions can achieve meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining industrial performance.

Furthermore, LCA supports the evaluation of alternative scenarios, including:

• Increased use of renewable energy in production processes
• Different sourcing strategies for bio-based raw materials
• Improved manufacturing efficiency
• Enhanced recycling and end-of-life options for wood-based panels
• Circular use of secondary biomass feedstocks

These assessments provide valuable insights that guide technological development and support informed decision-making throughout the project.

Within SUSBOARD, LCA forms part of a broader sustainability assessment framework that also includes Social Life Cycle Assessment (sLCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC). Together, these methodologies evaluate environmental, social, and economic performance to ensure that the developed adhesive system is not only technically effective but also sustainable and commercially viable.

The project aims to demonstrate that fully bio-based adhesives can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of wood-based panel production. Preliminary projections indicate that replacing fossil-derived adhesive components could contribute to a reduction of up to 30% in carbon emissions compared with conventional fossil-based adhesive systems.

Beyond climate impacts, the assessment framework also considers factors such as recyclability, and overall environmental performance. Together with the other pillars of the SSbD approach, these insights help support compliance with current and future European regulations.

SUSBOARD’s commitment to robust sustainability assessment extends beyond its own research activities. The project recently contributed to the FUELGAE webinar “LCA Perspectives Across EU Bio-Economy and Circularity Projects”, which brought together experts from several Horizon Europe initiatives to exchange experiences and best practices in LCA.

During the workshop, SUSBOARD presented “Sticking to Sustainability – a (Social) Life Cycle Assessment of Bio-Based Adhesives for Wood Panels”, highlighting how environmental and social life cycle methodologies are being applied to evaluate the project’s innovative adhesive systems.

The presentation highlighted the importance of methodological choices such as system boundaries, functional units, and impact assessment methods, while also addressing potential trade-offs that may arise when replacing fossil-based adhesives with bio-based alternatives. By sharing its experiences with the wider bioeconomy community, SUSBOARD contributed to ongoing discussions on harmonising sustainability assessment practices and ensuring that bio-based innovations deliver measurable environmental and societal benefits.

As SUSBOARD progresses towards industrial-scale validation, LCA will continue to play a central role in guiding development and demonstrating the environmental benefits of bio-based adhesive technologies.

By assessing impacts across the entire value chain, LCA helps ensure that sustainability gains are measurable, transparent, and aligned with the objectives of the European Green Deal. Ultimately, it supports more circular production systems for the wood-based panel industry.

This knowledge, together with the safety and hazard assessments carried out within SUSBOARD’s SSbD approach, will help pave the way for the large-scale adoption of formaldehyde-free, bio-based adhesives, supporting the transition towards a more sustainable and climate-neutral future for Europe’s furniture and construction sector.