Guayule Particle Board

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Guayule Particle Board Tech ID: UA21-026 Invention: This invention is a particle-board comprising a fiber component including guayule bagasse and an adhesive composition including a mixture of a modified guayule resin and soy protein. The resultant composite has mechanical properties comparable to particle boards formed from soy protein adhesives alone while also having enhanced wet shear strength, and hence improved water repellent features, as compared with particle-boards formed from soy protein adhesives alone. The use of guayule also provides for enhanced anti-termite and/or enhanced anti-insect properties as compared with particle-boards formed from non-bio-based adhesives and wood fibers. Background: The cost of making wood composite has increased due to the increase in the price of wood supply; hence, guayule bagasse could be one of the alternative less expensive options. Guayule, a plant that grows in the Southwest United States and Mexico, is a promising source of hypoallergenic natural latex rubber, requiring little water to cultivate. However, extracting latex from Guayule requires processing the entire plant, leaving most of the plant’s biomass as a byproduct. This invention supports the need to find valuable new uses for the byproducts of the latex extraction process to increase the overall economics of guayule as a sustainable crop for desert environments. While using Guayule bagasse as a replacement for wood is the first step in this technology’s solution, the current resin used to adhere the composite is still concerning. Accordingly, developing a wood composite with all natural and renewable materials that combine guayule resins with soy proteins, and which utilize guayule bagasse as the fiber component, could provide one solution for addressing the global demand of environmentally-friendly and sustainable products such as wood composites or particle-board.