'Transparent wood' could replace plastic

In recent years, the movement away from plastic is progressing, with many restaurants adopting paper straws. In addition to paper, `` transparent and durable wood '' has been developed as an alternative material to plastic, but a new research team at the Indian Institute of Technology said, ``The transition from plastic to transparent wood is effective for environmental protection. We published the analysis result that it is.

Life cycle assessment of transparent wood production using emerging technologies and strategic scale-up framework - ScienceDirect
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157301

Transparent wood could soon replace plastics
https://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/news/transparent-wood-could-soon-replace-plastics/

Techniques for processing wood transparent are being developed by multiple research institutes. At the beginning of development, it was necessary to use harmful chemical substances to make wood transparent, but recent research and development has made it possible to make wood transparent using relatively safe substances. For example, the wood transparency technology announced by the University of Maryland in 2021 uses a method of bleaching wood with hydrogen peroxide and infiltrating epoxy resin.

Transparent wood that is lighter and stronger than glass is developed - GIGAZINE

A research team at the Indian Institute of Technology analyzed the environmental impact of each method of wood transparency technology. As a result, wood-clearing techniques using substances such as sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfite and hydrogen peroxide have a 24% lower global warming potential and an acidification factor that is 24% lower than those using sodium chlorite and acrylic resins. It turned out to be 15% lower.

Furthermore, it was found that when the production scale of wood transparency technology using substances such as hydrogen peroxide is expanded to an industrial scale, the power consumption is 98.8% lower than that of laboratory scale production. Based on these results, the research team said, ``Plastic is used as a substitute for fragile glass, but transparent wood with biodegradability can be used as a better substitute than plastic.'' Emphasizes the usefulness of wood.