Starch: An Undisputed Potential Candidate and Sustainable Resource for the Development of Wood Adhesive

Abstract

Abstract Due to extensive utilization of fossil fuels, the energy demand of the growing population of the world is increasing day by day. The utilization of these fossil fuels also results in environmental pollution and energy crisis around the globe. As such, scientists and academics are trying to develop green materials which tend to reduce the impact of human on environment. Starch is the most abundant organic compound found in nature after cellulose. Thus, starch is an attractive natural green material candidate for researchers to replace the petro‐chemical‐based ingredients in wood composite products. There is an increasing demand for the wood adhesives in the recent years due to increasing applications of wood products. The wood adhesive industry remains dependent on the petroleum resources due to attributes such as high performance and low cost. However, these adhesives can create serious risks to human health and spoil the indoor air quality by emitting these carcinogenic compounds into the environment. Therefore, there is a growing interest to replace the petro‐chemical based ingredients in the adhesive formulation with green renewable material. This review focuses on research conducted in the recent past to develop adhesive for wood application from green renewable material such as starch.