1. Introduction
The significant role of wood adhesive in the progress and success of the woodwork industry has been recognized recently. The wood adhesive is identified as one of the factors in the efficient usage and management of wood resources. By far, the adhesive market is known to be increasing rapidly, and it is expected to continue in the future [
1]. According to Global Market Insights, the worldwide demand for adhesives was
$63 B in 2022 and is forecasted to reach
$102 B in 2032. Many adhesives are being used in the construction industry, particularly in those manufacturing building materials such as plywood and particle board. The largest use of adhesives is in the construction industry. [
2].
Four thermosetting resins are conventionally utilized as wood adhesives, phenol-formaldehyde (PF) [
3], urea-formaldehyde (UF) [
4], melamine formaldehyde (MF) [
5], and PMDI resin [
6,
7]. PF adhesives are typically formed by synthesizing phenol and formaldehyde with the aid of alkaline catalysts [
8]. PF is an excellent adhesive for plywood and particle board production for building boats. PF wood adhesive is characterized by its great moisture resistance and is widely utilized in the production of oriented standard boards, softwood plywood, and siding [
9]. UF adhesives are utilized in the wood industry for bonding wood and wood pieces to form useful wood products such as plywood and particle board [
10]. It is usually produced by adding formaldehyde to urea under alkaline conditions and in the presence of catalysts [
11]. MF adhesives are utilized most for exterior wood panels because of their excellent water resistance capabilities compared to other formaldehyde-compound adhesives [
12]. MF is expensive; therefore, it is usually blended with urea to make it cheaper [
13]. PMDI adhesive is characterized by its excellent bonding strength, efficient water, and climate resistance properties. Their expensive cost is usually overcome by their faster curing time, but they have no comprehensible benefits in terms of sustainability or environmentally friendly features compared to formaldehyde-compound adhesives [
14]. Formaldehyde and PMDI have been categorized as carcinogenic and toxic materials based on the material safety data sheets (MSDS), and the production of these resins has relied on non-renewable petroleum resources [
15]. Due to the negative impacts of synthetic adhesives, there has been growing interest in the development of bio-based adhesives that are environmentally friendly and come from renewable sources [
16]. Synthetic wood adhesives are made from non-sustainable petrochemical materials. These materials, such as formaldehyde, are known to contain volatile organic compounds and residual hazardous compounds. One of the carrier fluids used in conventional heat-melt adhesives is toluene, and this solvent is quite environmentally damaging and unsafe. Several resources from plant materials have been utilized as sustainable feedstock to chemically modify bio-based adhesives. These plant materials include lignin, plant proteins, tannins, bark, starch, and vegetable oils. Numerous studies on these biomass sources have been explored to find out their potential as renewable sources. Some of these are sweet sorghum juice as a potential raw material for alcohol production [
17] and peanut shell and
cornick industry wastewater as raw materials for briquette production [
18]. Optimization studies on these biomass sources have also been explored [
19].
Starch is a white organic powder produced from natural carbohydrates extracted from plants. They are usually taken from the tubers, roots, and seeds of plants [
2]. Starch is one of the potential raw materials for the advancement of bioadhesives. Starch as a bioadhesive feedstock possesses several advantages, such as sustainability, a cheap, simple production process, excellent bonding performance, and excellent film construction [
20]. Starch contains three hydroxyl groups attached to every unit of glucose that can establish hydrogen bonding. Adhesives made from starch have been popularly utilized in wood manufacturing, but the ability to bond wood is not sufficient to meet the required strength. The starch has a strong attraction to hydrogen bonding, which causes its strong affinity for water. This characteristic causes starch-based bioadhesives to dry over time. The utilization of starch directly as bioadhesives is unsuccessful because of problems in the storage and the standard bonding strength of wood adhesives. Wood adhesives made directly from starch have poor bonding strength compared to standard. It is also characterized by poor water resistance, unlike wood adhesives containing formaldehyde. Therefore, to produce high-quality starch-based wood bioadhesives, their molecular structure should be strengthened. The inferior quality of starch as a bio-based adhesive can be enhanced through chemical modification. One method of chemical modification of starch is an oxidation process [
21]. The oxidation process occurs when the hydroxyl groups are converted to carboxyl groups in the glucose part of the starch. The disruption of glucose rings resulted in carboxyl, carbonyl radicals, and depolymerization. The oxidants are commonly used in the modification of oxidized starches. Starches may be oxidized by sodium hypochlorite, bromine, potassium, hydrogen peroxide, ammonia persulfate, and potassium permanganate [
22].
One of the plants that is an excellent source of starch is cassava. Cassava is a root vegetable or tuber containing a large amount of starch commonly eaten worldwide. The plant originated in South America and is known to be an efficient supplier of fiber, vitamin C, thiamin, folic acid, manganese, and potassium. Cassava is described as a long-standing plant with fan-shaped leaves that contains fleshy brown roots, or tubers. Cassava starch as a raw material for bioadhesives is more advantageous than other starches because of the clear paste formed, the low gel formation temperature, stability of the gel formed, and its excellent film properties [
23]. Sweet potato, locally called
camote, is another source of starch. It is an herbaceous perennial plant commonly known as a tribe in tropical countries. The leaves are triangle-shaped and attached along the stems. The leaf is usually 5–10 inches long, crawling on the ground. It is a root vegetable or tuber that is big, rich in starch, and usually tastes sweet. It is an underground tuber known to be full of nutrients, rich in fiber, good tasting, and usually eaten boiled, baked, steamed, and fried. This plant originated in tropical countries in the United States [
24].
The use of wood adhesive that is considered eco-friendly and safe for humans will lessen the negative impacts on the environment because it will not emit strong fumes that can harm the health of an individual. The use of this kind of adhesive is important because sources will be renewable and accessible [
25]. The production cost is increased, and the biodegradability of chemically modified bio-based adhesives is decreased during their production; however, their advantages with regards to petrol-based adhesives are still superior. Chemically modified bio-based adhesives are still cheaper, produce a lower carbon footprint and lower toxicity, and still possess higher biodegradability and a more sustainable design than petrol-based adhesives [
26].
Extracted starches are commonly used for food and food-related purposes. Considering the utilization of food starches from food sources, this will cause disputes and rivalry among food and food-related manufacturers. Food security will also be a concern once the starch-based adhesive is fully adopted. Exploring starch-based adhesives has become a recent research interest, such as the studies on biobased adhesives formulated from tannic acid, chitosan, and shellac [
27], research on starch-based adhesives for wood panels [
28], improvement of starch-based adhesives with carboxylic acids and enzymatically polymerized lignosulfonates [
29], and evaluation of the properties of starch-based adhesives [
30], to name a few. Many studies have been conducted on the potential of starch as a bioadhesive, but the potential consequences of utilizing starch-based adhesives were poorly given attention. Exploring alternative sources of starch that would not compete with food sources would be an excellent step to adopting these innovations [
31]. The study aims to develop a wood adhesive from cassava and
camote peels. Specifically, it aimed to determine the percent yield (%
w/
w) of starch from
camote and cassava peels; determine the amount of chemically modified starch produced from
camote and cassava starch; characterize and compare the best ratio of
camote and cassava starch as chemically modified bio-based wood adhesives (CMBWA) in terms of solid content, viscosity, and glass transition temperature (T
g); produce particleboard using the different
camote to cassava starch ratio for CMBWA and analyzed in terms of mechanical properties namely, compressive strength, modulus of rupture (MOR), and physical properties such as density, water absorption and thickness swelling, and determine the best proportion among the
camote to cassava starch ratio.
4. Discussion
The starch from
camote and cassava peels was extracted with a percentage yield of 13.19 ± 0.48% for
camote and 18.92 ± 0.15% for cassava. Based on statistical analysis, the values between
camote and cassava were far from each other. This means that there is a significant difference in the starch content on their peels. A higher percentage of starch was obtained from cassava peels than the
camote peels because cassava naturally contains a larger amount of starch which is 25% on a wet basis and 60% on a dry basis than the
camote with 18.56% yield [
38]. The percentage yield of starch obtained in this study is 18.92 ± 0.15%, lower than the existing study, which also extracted starch from cassava peels, which is 30% [
31]. The percentage yield of starch extracted from
camote peels is 13.19 ± 0.48%. This result is still feasible since this study utilized only the peels, which have a lesser starch content than the main crop, knowing that a study conducted on extracting starch from the main crop of
camote was able to obtain only 27–30% yield [
39]. An existing study has successfully extracted and characterized starch from sweet potato peels [
40]. The amount and quality of starch extracted from
camote peels varied widely because they rely on many factors, including tuber size, maturity, variety, and even the extraction process [
41].
Chemically modified starch observed an increase in mass. A 16% and 13.35% increase in mass from
camote and cassava starch were obtained from the chemical modification, respectively. Based on statistical analysis, the values between the initial and final weights of
camote and cassava were far from each other in the process of chemical modification. This means that there is a significant increase in weight when starch undergoes chemical modification. An increase in mass can be due to the depolymerization of starch fractions. The oxidation reaction tends to cause alleviation of the intermolecular bonds or partial depolymerization of polymer chains. The starch, when chemically modified by the oxidation process, has enhanced water solubility, a lower viscosity, and a retrograding tendency in comparison to the unoxidized one. These phenomena increased the low molecular weight of the starch fraction because of the addition of hydroxyl groups [
42]. Since starch molecules contain a lot of hydroxyl groups, the substitution of these by carbonyl and carboxyl is expected during the oxidation process. These new groups make the oxidized starch obtain a higher molecular weight and its weight as well [
43].
Different sources of starch have diverse attributes such as viscosity, gelatinization temperature, and adhesive strength [
44]. The solid content of adhesives influences its brushability, adhesive tack time, and bonding strength because an increase in the solid content of the adhesive reduces its water content [
45]. For adhesives, the standard solid content is 55–57%, but the higher the solid content of the adhesives, the better [
46]. All the
camote and cassava starch ratios formulated have excellent solid content values. Adhesive properties improved with increasing solid content and a lower solid content indicates that more volatiles need to be removed during the pressing process [
47]. The improvement of the solid content is caused by the oxidation of the starch, which introduces carboxyl and carbonyl groups that cause the adhesive formulated to retard recrystallization [
48]. Oxidized starch increases stability against excessive heat, acid, shear, time, cooling, and freezing [
49]. Based on statistical analysis, the values within the five
camote to cassava starch ratios were very close to each other and can be regarded as having no significant difference. In adhesives, the higher the solid content, the better. When it comes to drying time, the best ratio will be the one that obtains the highest solid content value.
Another property of the CMBWA to be considered is its viscosity. The lower the viscosity of the binder, the better the liquidity will be. All the formulations considered obtain a low viscosity profile, but the
camote to cassava ratio of 80:20 observes the lowest viscosity among them. The liquidity of the adhesive affects the permeability of the adhesive and the uniformity of the dispensing shot range. It also affects the production speed, board bonding performance, planeness, and strength of boards [
50]. A reduction in viscosity was noticed on the CMBWA compared to the viscosity of unmodified starch. The probable reason is due to the breakdown of linkages in the starch during the oxidation process. According to Mohamaddi et al. [
51], another likely reason for the reduced viscosity was due to the extensive disruption of the amorphous region in starch granules and conversion to a low molecular weight chain. Based on statistical analysis, the values within the five
camote to cassava starch ratios were close to each other, and there was no significant difference between their values. In adhesives, the higher the viscosity, the better adhesive property; moreover, the best ratio will be the one that obtains the highest viscosity. The viscosity of 40:60 is like the viscosity of UF in the control sample.
It is also important to evaluate adhesives in terms of their thermal properties. One important parameter for thermal properties is T
g. It is a critical temperature for the effectiveness of adhesives and other polymer materials. T
g is the temperature in reference to polymer transitions from a rigid, glassy state to a more flexible, rubbery state [
1]. In the case of adhesives, T
g is essential due to its influences on their mechanical properties, such as flexibility, toughness, and adhesion strength [
52]. T
g is a significant parameter to consider in adhesive applications because it can affect the performance of the adhesive under different temperature conditions. Adhesives with a T
g below the expected service temperature may become too soft and lose their bonding strength, while adhesives with a Tg above the service temperature may become too brittle. Below the T
g, the adhesive is typically in a glassy or brittle state. In this condition, the ability of the adhesive to deform and absorb energy is limited. Above T
g, the adhesive becomes more pliable and can absorb mechanical stresses [
53]. Therefore, adhesives with lower T
g are more advantageous than those with higher T
g. In the study, the data show that chemical modification of starch adhesives improves their T
g, as indicated by the lower T
g for CMBWA compared to the unoxidized starch adhesives. The CMBWA produced did not undergo further characterization of its morphology. However, in a study where the characterization of modified starch was conducted through Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), it was found that the water resistance of starch adhesive was significantly improved by chemical modification [
54].
The bioadhesive produced was then applied for particle board production and tested in terms of water absorption, thickness of swelling, density, MOR, MOE, and tensile strength. The water absorption determines how much water the particle board constructed using the CMBWA has absorbed after subjecting it to specified conditions. The maximum limit of water absorption is 40%. However, all the samples exceeded this limit. The result of this study is opposite from the existing study conducted, where oxidization of starch improved the water resistance property of the particle board constructed from it [
45]. One of the possible reasons that affected the water absorption of the particle board is the pressing method, wherein the particleboard side was not smoothed properly, which caused the penetration of water into the material. Penetration of water on the particle board might also be the crystalline disruption that has occurred during the oxidation of the
camote and cassava peel starch. The crystalline structure of the starch tends to be due to the interaction of hydrogen bonding between starch and water. Oxidization of starch improves the water resistance of the adhesives due to the elimination of hydroxyl groups in the starch as it undergoes oxidation [
50]. Based on statistical analysis through ANOVA, the values within the five
camote to cassava starch ratios were very far from each other and can be regarded as having a significant difference. The interaction between the wood particles and the type and proportion of starch adhesives during the application process can vary, thereby influencing the water absorption characteristics of the product. Combining different sources can create a formulation that takes advantage of the strengths of each source, producing a more versatile and efficient adhesive [
55]. In a comparison study conducted where different sources of starch were utilized as a source of adhesive for particle board production, it was found that a significant difference in the mechanical properties of particle board was observed among the different sources of starch [
56]. In particle boards, the lower the water absorption, the better; the best ratio will be the one that obtains the lowest water absorption value.
The thickness of the swelling of the particle boards constructed was also tested. For the particle board produced and constructed using CMBWA, the ratio of 40:60 gave the best result with a value of 7.14 ± 0.32%. The standard for the thickness of swelling in particle boards is a maximum of 15% after a 24 h immersion in water [
57]. The thickness of swelling for the produced particle boards from CMBWA was within the standard. This result indicates that chemical modification improved the bonding strength of the starch utilized for wood adhesive [
45]. The result of this study is also like the study conducted where the oxidization of starch was used for the formulation of adhesives for plywood construction, wherein the bonding strength of the starch was improved because of the oxidation process [
58]. The anisotropic swelling response is also due to the materials utilized for particle board production. Soft wood materials, although they absorb less moisture, would result in thicker swelling behavior [
59]. The sawdust that was collected for particle board production came from different wood varieties. There is a tendency that the other adhesive ratios considered were made from softer wood material than the 20:80 ratio. Based on statistical analysis, the values within the five
camote to cassava starch ratios were very far from each other except for 60:40, 80:20, and 100:0, where no significant difference was observed. The 20:80, 40:60, and the other three
camote to cassava starch ratios have significant differences, which means that a remarkable difference is observed. In terms of thickness of swelling, the lower the thickness of swelling, the better when it comes to the quality of particle board. Therefore, the best ratio will be the one that obtains the lowest thickness of swelling.
Density is said to be a measure of the compactness of the individual particles on the board. The density of particleboard produced from CMBWA was tested. For the particle board produced from a 40:60 ratio of
camote to cassava, the density was 0.48 ± 0.03 g/cm
3. The standard density for particleboard for LD-1 and LD-2 is less than 0.64 g/cm
3 [
60]. Concerning density, the produced particleboards can be classified as LD-1 and LD-2, which means the particleboard produced can be used for door core [
61]. Based on statistical analysis, the values within the five
camote to cassava starch ratios were very close to each other, which means that no significant difference was observed between the values considered. In terms of density, when it comes to particle board, the higher the density, the better, so the best ratio will be the one that obtains the highest density.
The compressive strength of a particle board is influenced by the reinforcement and resin in the particle board. The common drawback under compressive force in a particle board is the twining of load-bearing reinforcement. The greater the compressive strength, the better the particle board produces [
62]. Compressive strength is directly proportional to MOR and MOE, which means that an increase in compressive strength would also result in an increase in MOR and MOE. MOR and MOE of the different CMBWA ratios show that all are inferior compared to the set standards for MOR and MOE. The compacting parameters were not met during the pressing of the particleboard, particularly the pressing temperature. However, among the CMBWA ratios considered, the 40:60 ratio obtained the best mechanical properties in terms of compressive strength and MOR. In the study conducted, it was found out that pressing temperature affects the mechanical properties of particle board [
63]. Based on statistical analysis, the five ratios have no significant difference in terms of tensile strength. The 60:40 ratio shows a significant difference in terms of compressive strength, as shown in
Table 8, while the rest of the
camote to cassava starch ratios have no significant differences from each other. However, the values within the five
camote:cassava starch ratios were far from each other and can be regarded as a significant difference being observed for MOE and MOR. Data shows that MOR, MOE, and tensile strength are directly proportional to each other. Different
camote:cassava starch adhesive ratios obtain different values in terms of mechanical properties because various sources and proportions of starch as adhesives exhibit unique properties. An investigation of the mechanical properties of particle boards made from different sources of starch as bioadhesives revealed that a significant difference is obvious [
30]. The composition of the adhesive, viscosity, and bonding characteristics play a role in determining its effectiveness in binding wood particles. Consequently, these factors impact the overall tensile strength of the particle board. In terms of MOR and MOE in particle board, the higher the MOR and MOE, the better, so the best ratio will be the one that obtains the highest MOR and MOE. For the internal bond test, the tensile strength is directly proportional to the compressive strength. Similar results have been obtained by the study that tested particle boards produced using Gum Arabic resin as adhesives [
37].