Formaldehyde based resins including urea formaldehyde
(UF), phenol formaldehyde (PF) and melamine–urea–
formaldehyde (MUF) are the three most commonly used
binders in wood composite industry. The majority of nonstructural wood composites panels such as interior-grade
particleboard and plywood are manufactured with UF.
These resins are the most important type of the so-called
aminoplastic resins [1]. Currently, approximately 6 billion
tons of UF resins are produces per annum worldwide,
based on a usual solids content of 66% by mass [1].
The major defects of UF resins are their high sensitivity
to water attack and its formaldehyde emission which plays
an important role from the point of environmental pollution.
July, 2008, the European Panel Federation took a decision
to pass on 4 mg/100 g of particleboards (perforator
method), formaldehyde emission of the totality of the
European panel production, as from January, 2009. This
is equivalent to E 0.5 grade. Most suppliers and people are
concerned about how to reduce pollutants from building
materials and how to control indoor air quality. Replacing
UF with organic based resins such as lignin [2, 3], wattle
bark tannins [4–7], protein [8–10] and starch [11] is
one of the possible approaches to eliminate adverse