In 2021, the total consumption of adhesives in my country will be the same as that in 2020. It is mainly divided into two categories: formaldehyde-based adhesives and formaldehyde-free adhesives. The consumption of formaldehyde-based adhesives is about 15.4 million tons, mainly including urea-formaldehyde resins (including modified) and phenolic resins, of which the consumption of urea-formaldehyde resins is about 14.1 million tons, accounting for 91% of the consumption of formaldehyde-based adhesives; It is 1.3 million tons, accounting for 9%. Affected by the new crown pneumonia, the raw materials of bulk chemical products in the world have risen, the price of oil has soared, and the prices of its downstream products such as urea, methanol, formaldehyde, and other raw materials have also fluctuated greatly. The price doubled at the peak, and the current price is still high. The sharp rise in chemical raw materials has a great impact on small adhesive companies, and many small companies are facing a state of shutdown. With the deepening of the implementation of the regulations on the entry of glue workshops into chemical industrial parks in various provinces, the production of adhesives is bound to be safer and more standardized in the unified management of chemical industrial parks.
The total consumption of urea-formaldehyde resin for plywood products in my country is the largest, followed by fiberboard and particleboard. In 2020, the consumption of urea-formaldehyde resin for plywood products was 6.87 million tons, accounting for 48.9%; the consumption of fiberboard products was 5.41 million tons, accounting for 38.4%; the consumption of particleboard products was 1.78 million tons, accounting for 12.7%. With the advancement of technology, the amount of glue applied per unit product of various wood-based panels has gradually decreased.
Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia in 2020, people have paid more attention to the health of the living room and aldehyde-free wood-based panel products. The green upgrade of the wood-based panel industry has accelerated, and the consumption of aldehyde-free adhesives has continued to grow rapidly. The consumption of isocyanate adhesives for wood-based panels and the consumption of soy-based protein adhesives continued to grow steadily, mainly in the application of fiberboard and particleboard. Water-based polymer-isocyanate adhesives are mainly used in particleboard and plywood production, and their application in fiberboard production is still in the research and development stage. Lignin adhesives have begun to be popularized and applied in the production of plywood, particleboard, and fiberboard. In addition, the application fields of urea-formaldehyde resins such as environmentally friendly modification (flame retardant) are more extensive.
With the changes in market demand, the future of adhesives for the wood industry will develop in the direction of improving the environmental performance of products, reducing the unit consumption of adhesive products, improving production efficiency, improving the level of production technology, and equipment, and further accelerating specialized supply. The trend is to improve the quality of the glue used in the wood-based panel industry as a whole.