Progress in Development of Epoxy Resin Systems Based on Wood Biomass in Japan

This article reviews the progress in the development of wood biomass origin epoxy resin system from 1960s to recent years in Japan. The methods of using wood biomass for epoxy resin systems are classified into the following three categories; one is the method of preparing lignin-epoxy resins after applying treatments on the industrial lignin, which has been disposed in large volume, another is that of using wood as the raw material of epoxy resin system after applying treatments directly on wood, and the other is that of composing epoxy resin and/or curing agent from woody raw materials (except the industrial lignin), which are isolated and refined from wood before the treatments. Although several promising technologies have been developed and tried to be industrialized in Japan, the full-fledged development of wood biomass-based epoxy resin has just started when viewed as a whole. These developments will be further accelerated toward the construction of the environment harmony type and the resources circulation type societies. As the result of continuous developmental efforts, it is expected that we can look at the scene where epoxy resins are sustainably supplied in various forms even after the depletion of oil resources. POLYM. ENG. SCI.,, 2012. (C) 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers