This photo provided by Kolon Industries Inc. shows the company’s Gimcheon Plant.
SEOUL, June 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Kolon Industries Inc., a textile and chemical materials maker, announced on Wednesday that it had applied for a patent for an eco-friendly adhesive resin developed using wood byproducts, a first in South Korea.
The company developed the eco-friendly lignin resin using a high molecular chemical compound lignin that is extracted from the byproducts created during the process of making pulp from wood.
At present, lignin is not used for industrial production. Most lignin is discarded during the manufacturing process.
Compared to a petrochemical raw material, the use of lignin has the effect of reducing the generation of carbon dioxide during the production process and has great growth potential as an eco-friendly raw material that can replace toxic materials.
Kolon Industries developed the lignin resin to replace existing petrochemical materials after two years of experimentation on the basis of biomass research.
Despite having an adhesive property, lignin is not easily mixed with other materials, making chemical bonding challenging. Nonetheless, Kolon Industries succeeded in developing the adhesive resin by applying its existing know-how in the production of phenol resins.
Kolon Industries plans to produce lignin resins by using existing resin facilities at the company’s No. 2 plant in the southeastern city of Gimcheon. The company aims to launch sales of lignin resins from the second half of this year.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
