Henkel and Covestro Join Forces to Advance Sustainable Adhesives for Timber Components

According to European Coatings, Henkel and Covestro are cooperating to promote the sustainability of adhesives in timber construction. Covestro provides polyurethane-based materials based on bio-attributed raw materials, which are used by Henkel for high-performance adhesive solutions.

The German chemical companies Henkel and Covestro are joining forces to promote the sustainability of adhesives in load-bearing timber construction. Such elements, such as cross-laminated timber or glulam, can be found in a variety of interior and exterior building applications, from stairs to facades and load-bearing components. For this purpose, Covestro Henkel provides polyurethane-based materials. These are based on bio-attributed raw materials that are assigned using mass balancing. Henkel then uses these for high-performance adhesive solutions.

According to Covestro, broadening the raw material base with bio-based or recycled solutions is an important part of this endeavor. Since alternative raw materials are mixed with conventional raw materials at various points in the chemical production process and it is then difficult to clearly allocate them to individual products, the alternative raw material used is allocated to the end products using the mass balance approach. This is a method that makes it possible to mix traditional and alternative raw materials during production, but to document them in accounting terms across all processing steps and thus allocate them to products. The accuracy and conformity of this approach is externally certified by the internationally recognized ISCC PLUS standard. For the wood adhesive, all Henkel and Covestro sites and partners involved are certified to this standard.