What is PureBond?

PureBond is a patented technology cooperatively developed by Columbia Forest Products, the College of Forestry at Oregon State University and Hercules Incorporated. Columbia is licensed to utilize the patented adhesive system on an exclusive basis for all its decorative panel markets.

The PureBond formula is a protein system which counts food-grade soy flour as the primary ingredient. This formula was invented by Dr. Kaichang Li, PH.D., of Oregon State University in the course of studies of various proteins marine mussels secreted to attach themselves to rocks and other dirty, wet and irregular surfaces. His work led to the identification of a pre-existing wet strength resin used in the manufacture of paper towels, frozen food packaging and paper currency. This proprietary resin from Hercules combined with the soy flour creates a cross linked molecular matrix that gives plywood, and composites made with it, superior strength and water-resistance.

Columbia has converted its hardwood plywood facilities to the PureBond manufacturing system to produce PureBond hardwood plywood for distribution across the continent.  Conversion of the plants to PureBond replaced over 47 million pounds of urea formaldehyde adhesive, reducing each mill's emissions of hazardous air pollutants by up to 90 percent.

Green Chemistry Prize

The process was awarded a Presidential Green Chemistry prize in 2007 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. "Winning this award provides even greater validation to an effort that over the past few years has become a cornerstone of our brand," Columbia CEO Brad Thompson said. "We're very proud to be able to share the award with Dr. Li and Hercules Incorporated."

"PureBond formaldehyde-free hardwood plywood panels are cost-competitive with urea formaldehyde-manufactured plywood, and they offer better moisture resistance," said Thompson. "This is good news for our employees, our customers and our end users. We've worked for several years to develop a resin that would allow us to do away with formaldehyde, while achieving a better level of performance, and PureBond has provided us with the winning recipe. It's especially rewarding when we look back and consider that over 25 million of these PureBond panels are now in the marketplace - being used across North America in people's cabinets, furniture and fixtures - instead of the standard urea-formaldehyde alternative."

With a growing focus from the architectural community on indoor air quality, Columbia's formaldehyde-free decorative panels are also compliant with the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, qualifying as a no added urea formaldehyde composite wood panel under LEED NC 2.2 EQ 4.4 and related standards. PureBond panels also significantly reduce formaldehyde emissions from both assembly and pressing operations - great news for Columbia employees.