LSIWC researchers present innovative bio-based materials for building façades at the international ICWSE 2025 conference

At the beginning of November, the international conference ICWSE 2025 – “Wood Science and Engineering in the Third Millennium” – took place in Brașov, Romania, bringing together researchers from more than 20 countries. This year’s programme also included the latest research from the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry (LSIWC) on sustainable bio-based panel materials for construction implemented by Ramūnas Tupčiauskas, Andris Bērziņš, Mārtiņš Andžs, Rūdolfs Bērziņš and Gunārs Pavlovičs.

LSIWC scientist Ramūnas Tupčiauskas presented the paper “Properties of Innovative Bio-Based Particleboards for Application in External Building Facades.” The aim of the study was to develop high-density (1200 kg/m³) bio-based particleboard materials from agricultural and forestry by-products: wheat straw, spruce/pine chips and grey alder wood.

Using steam explosion technology and a bio-based suberinic acid binder, the team produced materials with significantly improved mechanical and physical properties. The results showed that several of the developed boards meet or exceed the performance requirements for exterior cladding, particularly in terms of internal bond (IB) and modulus of rupture (MOR).

The study demonstrates that bio-based composite materials can become a competitive alternative to traditional façade boards, reducing the use of fossil-based raw materials and lowering CO₂ emissions.

Scientific Framework of the Study

The presented results form part of the Latvian Council of Science–funded project “Investigation of innovative biomass-based panels for application in external building facade” (project No. lzp-2023/1-0348).

Within the project, new biomass-based cladding panels for ventilated façades are being developed and evaluated using innovative biomass processing approaches and environmentally friendly particleboard manufacturing technologies. The research makes use of highly available raw biomass resources in Latvia, such as wheat straw and exportable paper wood, with the aim of producing high-density panels as an alternative to conventional cement-based fibreboards, whose production is highly energy-intensive and associated with substantial CO₂ emissions.

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