Des Moines Register
03/16/06
Soy glue ready, but sellers scarce
ISU professor's creation an alternative to oil-based product
JERRY PERKINS
REGISTER FARM EDITOR
Ames, Ia. — For Deland Myers, making wood adhesives from soybeans was
easy.
What's been a lot harder, the Iowa State University food science professor
said, is finding a company that wants to sell the glue.
"We've shown that soy protein can be used in adhesives," Myers said in his lab
at the Center for Crops Utilization Research. "Now, we're waiting for a response
from industry. It's exciting and frustrating at the same time."
State leaders have promoted finding new uses for Iowa commodities as a way to
boost the state's farm economy, create jobs and help startup companies in the
emerging field of biosciences. But moving ideas from lab to marketplace has
proved challenging.
Consultants at Battelle Memorial Institute, hired to develop strategies to boost the
state's fledgling bioscience companies, reported that diminished support for
university research has led to a reduced opportunity for Iowa companies pushing
new products.
The Center for Crops Utilization Research was set up to develop products that
can be made from Iowa-grown commodities that go beyond food and feed. But it
has been easier to develop the ag-based products than to get them into the
marketplace, said Lawrence Johnson, director of the center.
"For every dollar that is spent on research, it takes $7 to commercialize a
product," Johnson said. "They say it takes seven years to commercialize a
revolutionary new product, even when that product comes from within a
company."
Other states are ahead of Iowa in commercializing ag-based products, Johnson
said. Iowa also has few companies that are entrepreneurial-oriented, and more
money is needed to work with them, he said.
Myers finds inspiration from George Washington Carver, the pioneering food
scientist whose portrait graces Myers' office wall, and the chemurgy movement of
the 1930s, which sought to make products from agricultural commodities.
"What I'm doing is not a new concept," said Myers, whose work has been
financed by soybean groups and a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant.
Soy protein was one of the primary binders used in plywood until the 1950s,
when petroleum-based alternatives took over the woodbinding industry, Myers
said.
He wondered whether the technology could be brought back and a new-old use
for Iowa soybeans found.
When another researcher figured out how to combine soybean adhesive and an
adhesive called phenol resoncinal formaldehyde made from petroleum, the lab
door was opened for his research, Myers said. He and graduate student John
Schmitz developed the adhesive, which can be mixed with petro- leum-based
glues.
The ever-rising cost of petroleum and environmental concerns about
formaldehyde and other oil-based products are boosting interest in a wide variety
of ag-based products, including ethanol made from corn and biodiesel made from
soybeans.
"We think the time is right, and that's why we need a partner," Meyers said.
One California company, Heartland Resource Technologies LLC of Pasadena, is
selling a soy-based wood adhesive mixed with petroleum-based glue. It also is
finding resistance in the marketplace.
Heartland chief executive officer and founder Frank M. Trocino said he looked at
Myers' soy-based glue. But, he said, he decided to use another formula to make
a soy glue that Heartland could license to others.
Trocino said Heartland wouldn't have been able to come up with its product if it
wasn't for Myers. "There have been a lot of people doing soy adhesive work, but
he brought it to the forefront again," he said.
Trocino's father, Frank, a native of Oelwein, had heard of the ISU glue and
convinced his son to take on the project.
Heartland intended to make the glue in the Oelwein area because his father
wanted to do something for his hometown, Trocino said, but he found it was a
better business decision to locate in Pasadena.
He said using soy glue can make a big cost difference.
"We're in a dialogue with two of the largest adhesive manufacturers, and they
believe there is a fairly significant cost savings, ranging from 10 percent to 40
percent, depending on how much soy glue is used," Trocino said. "That's
significant in an industry running on a very slim profit margin."
Also, he said, the soy-glue mix contains less formaldehyde, which is suspected
of causing health problems because of its fumes.
"Using soybeans also offsets our dependence on foreign oil and substitutes a
renewable home-grown resource," Trocino said.
Marketing the soy glue has been difficult for his business, too, he said. "It's taken
longer than I expected," Trocino said. "It's a hard nut to crack. It's an industry that
that hasn't had a lot of innovation in 30-35 years. But, once we get in the door,
we think we can get it sold."
Myers said it will be even more critical to push the use of soy glue as more and
more soybean oil will be made into biodiesel. Soy glue can help use up the
excess soy meal, he said. "Our goal is to promote the use of soybeans so our
farmers win," Myers said.