ReGluWood

Wood is a sustainable, recyclable fiber composite material that is crucial to achieving future climate neutrality as it combines excellent carbon capture and storage with high technical performance and design flexibility. Wood and wood-based products are used in large quantities in the European economy and this trend will increase with the EU targetting decarbonnisation of the built-environment in 2030 using wood-based materials. However, to have a sustainable positive impact on the environment, it is important to consider end-of-life (EoL) scenarios and to develop methods for the cascading of wood waste that use resources efficiently and avoid the use of environmentally harmful chemicals and binders. ReGluWood introduces a modular biotechnological process for the cascading use of wood waste in structural materials without the use of toxic chemicals and additional binders. Building on an understanding of the wood structure, selective enzymatic modification and the formation of the binder in situ during the process enable the eco-efficient production of semi-finished products for semi-structural wood-based materials. Initial results suggest that the developed fungal enzyme systems can efficiently modify the structure and chemistry of the waste wood. With our partner at IBWF, we are conducting fundamental research on the fungal enzyme systems and processes in order to systematically control the enzyme activity and thus the changes in the functional structure of the wood, and to achieve favorable properties of the resulting wood-based material.