In short: (In Italian only)
- A study has found that transparent wood could be a more sustainable alternative to glass or plastic, typically used for car windshields, packaging and biomedical devices.
- A systematic review, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, argues that this material is greener due to its renewable and biodegradable properties. Furthermore, it would be cost efficient, being five times more energy efficient than glass, resulting in a significant reduction in manufacturing costs.
- According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the world currently produces around 400 million tonnes of plastic waste per year, with increasing levels of single-use plastic used and then discarded. Now transparent wood is emerging as one of the most promising future substitutes for these materials.
The results of a study suggest that transparent wood can replace glass or plastic. And it can do it in many ways! In car windshields, in packaging and in biomedical devices. All thanks to its ecological properties. Magazine Science of the Total Environment published the study (I link it here), who also argues that clear wood is cheaper than glass because five times more energy efficient, with much less production costs.
The context
According to the United Nations Environmental Program, 400 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced around the world every year, an amount that is only increasing due to persistently high levels of single-use plastic. In this context, a "starting base" such as wood presents itself today as the ideal platform for the replacement material of the future.
“Plastic is used as a substitute for glass which is (naturally) fragile. Transparent wood, however, is an even better alternative from an ecological point of view,” he says Prodyut Dhar, study author and biochemical engineer.
Transparent wood: less ecological than glass (but cheaper), much more ecological than plastic
Developed in 1992 by the German scientist Siegfried Fink and then improved by other researchers (of which I speak to you here), transparent wood is obtained by removing the lignin content in the wood and replacing it with transparent epoxy infiltration. End-of-life analysis suggests that clear wood is a little less environmentally friendly than glass, but is still much better than polyethylene production.
Clearwood is developed using thin “slices” of regular wood, but is stronger and lighter. The ability to add multiple properties through the incorporation of specialized materials makes it a versatile biological substrate for many applications.
In recent times it has been used in construction, energy storage, flexible electronics and packaging applications. Given the growing concerns about the environmental impact of petroleum-based plastics, I truly believe that transparent wood will play a role in maintaining environmental sustainability.
