Formaldehyde Producers Boost the US Economy
Every day, people benefit from products that contain formaldehyde. This chemical is a critical, commercially valuable, and basic building block in our modern society.
While embalming is one of formaldehyde's earliest and best-known uses, this application represents less than one percent of formaldehyde use. Formaldehyde's unique and versatile chemical properties make it a common and beneficial part of modern life. From the construction industry to the automotive, aerospace and health care industries—products that are based on formaldehyde technologies have broad roles in the economy, supporting 920,000 jobs and $483 billion in sales in the United States.
In many instances, because formaldehyde is a building-block molecule, few compounds can replace it as a raw material without reducing performance and making the final products more expensive. Whether it's used in plywood for home construction, fuel system components for automobiles or door and window insulation for modern airliners, formaldehyde provides greater utility for consumers in the form of extended use, consistent quality and improved performance and safety.
Formaldehyde Chemistry Supports Sustainable Wood Products
Wood is a preferred material environmentally. Thanks to the proven performance of formaldehyde-based resins, the utilization rate of wood resources has been positively impacted resulting in a wide variety of value-added composite wood products.
Formaldehyde-based glues and resins allow wood chips, sawdust or recyclable wood waste to be combined to create functional and aesthetic composite wood products, such as particleboard and medium density fiberboard for use in cabinets, furniture and other durable, cost-effective and high performance applications.
And, thanks to the versatility and proven performance characteristics of formaldehyde-based binders, wood utilization rates now exceed 90 percent, and wood waste has shrunk to minimal levels. Formaldehyde chemistry has been essential in the development of composite panel products that have increased the wood utilization rates.
Importantly, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data show that carbon stored in composite wood panels exceed that generated in the extraction and production of the panels.
There currently are no alternative resins that provide overall better technical performance, versatility and cost effectiveness than formaldehyde-based resins.
Formaldehyde-based binders enable growth and innovative processes to extract and utilize the full potential of wood in providing consumers with affordable high-quality products, while helping our wood resources go farther.