Why waste wood!

Read all about the positive impact of ECOBoard on the environment and living conditions.

Safe the forest

More than 50 % of forests have already been replaced by agriculture and cities. As a natural air filter, agriculture binds large volumes of CO2 while simultaneously producing oxygen.

To produce 1 kg of biomass, agricultural crops use up 1.8 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere, and give back 1.1 kg of O2, pure oxygen, which they have no use for. A small home built of biomass can bind 9000 kg of CO2, and provide a volume of oxygen that can sustain its owner for about 15 years.

However, burning or composting biomass reverses this process. It requires oxygen and produces atmospheric CO2. A bad deal for us.

By using ECOBoards, the CO2 is stored into biobased materials over multiple decades and can later be reused as raw material for new ECOBoards without the need of energy.  By using regenerative materials instead of oil-based products, you are making a vital contribution to climate and environmental protection.

The traditional way

Currently more than 1 Billion m3 of board material is being processed every year in the world. Every m3 of trees harvested to fulfill this need for board material results in 2 tons of CO² absorption loss until the trees used, grow back to their original size and only for FSC wood. This is apart from CO² that is released during the production and harvesting processes. 50% of the world forests have already been cut to achieve this. ECOboards offers an alternative way ahead by using agricultural waste.

Agriculture absorbs even more CO2 than most forests or trees. Straw is actually like a little tree that is already cut and that will grow back in a year or 6 months depending on the country. By using this straw to produce bio based materials like ECOBoards 1.78 kg of of Carbon will be stored for every kg produced. At end of life the old ECOBoards are reused as raw material for new ECOBoards and thus the Carbon remains saved making it fully cradle2cradle .

Bio based Building is therefor the ideal GEO – ENGINEERING! The impact to the CO2 balance is HUGE.

LCA ECOBoard Prepared by: Gary Newman – Plant Fibre Technology (21st February 2008)

The production and use of ECOBoards has a very positive environmental impact. Strawboard is CARBON NEGATIVE.

An ECOBoard factory with a capacity of 100,000 tons is responsible for:

  • The storage of > 100,000 TONS CO2 per year
  • Has an impact of > 200,000 TONS CO2 less per year
  • Saves 400,000 m3 per year TREES being cut

A natural waste product

Straw
The straw used to manufacture ECOBoards is a natural waste product from cereal (such as wheat) crop production. Straw is a natural, continuously renewable raw material. As the straw is available as a consequence of food production it is free of any environmental ‘costs’ – other than baling and transport. During growth, straw sequesters carbon, thereby helping to reduce greenhouse gas production.

Process energy
The technology used to produce Ecoboard has low energy usage.
Unlike wood, straw requires minimal drying prior to board production and the energy required for particle size reduction is very low.

Binder
The high performance MDI (urethane based) resin used to bind the straw particles is required at a level of only 3% – as compared with the 15% required for more conventional urea formaldehyde (UF) resin bonded particleboards.

Life Cycle Analysis (summary)

Energy MJ/kg GWP Co2 eqv/kg
Straw 0.000 – 1.781
MDI Resin 3.009 0.169
Production 2.392 0.562
Packaging 2.683 0.066
Net balance 14.080 – 0.985

The above figures demonstrate that more carbon is locked-up in Strawboard than is released through manufacturing and transport.
Thus ECOBoard is MUCH BETTER THAN CARBON NEUTRAL and STORING CO2.

The ECOBoard Way.

ECOBoards are unique in the sense that it uses agricultural fibre residue (waste) for its production of boards/panels. Since no trees are cut, 2 tons of CO2 absorption per m3 of wood is saved for the environment.

Unlike most MDF and particleboards currently on the market, the ECOBoard agrifibre panels use a special No Added Formaldehyde (NAF) resin. This resin is designed so that only 3% is needed for bonding, compared to up to 25% in particleboards. A NAF resin helps creating a healthier living environment.

Trends
Japan with the F**** norm and California with the CARB norm imposed formaldehyde free norms/directions for living environments due to the importance of lowering CO2 emissions and reducing toxicity. Other countries are following and are supported by local/national governments.

ECOBoard conforms to the EU’s E0 standard and F**** and CARB standards.

Iso 2001 certified.

Production process
The production process is ISO 2001 certified. In addition they operate in a closed system and therefore have no CO2 emissions, because of this they are CARB level 1 and 2 certified,.

The process gives standard ECOBoard panels the following environmental advantages:

Standard ECOBoards offer much better protection against water and are twice as resistant against fire than current products on the market (without using additional chemicals). Higher protection level boards are available on request.
Standard ECOBoards are fully (100%) recyclable or reusable to an equal product in order to fulfill the Cradle to Cradle (C2C)concept.
Standard ECOBoards have a clean burning process.
Standard ECOBoards are easily composted.