Sustainable glue made from soy oil and tannin outperforms best commercial adhesives
Mussel inspired plant-based adhesive still requires optimisation but shows promise
A new sustainably sourced adhesive produced using soy oil and other plant-derived ingredients performed as well or better than the best commercially available petroleum-based options like epoxy resins.
Most adhesives are made from petroleum products and are difficult to recycle. They don’t break down in landfills and cannot be separated from the material sent for recycling. According to Jonathan Wilker, a chemist at Purdue University, a sustainable replacement needs to be cheap, suitable for mass production and made from plant products.