ARC Celebrates OSSB “Wheatboard” in China

Earthquake-struck school to be rebuilt using AB-created OSSB

October 29, 2009 - Edmonton, AB

A Chinese school that collapsed in a 2008 earthquake will be among the buildings to be constructed using so-called wheatboard technology created in Alberta and now being manufactured in China.
 
The Alberta Research Council-patented technology creates Oriented Split Straw Board (OSSB) construction panels out of wheat straw. Similar in thickness, use and strength to wood-based OSB, the wheatboard panels are intended for construction applications where plywood may have formerly been used. Now OSSB technology is being put to great use in China by its worldwide licensee, Panel Board Holding (PBH) Ltd, with the opening of the world’s first such manufacturing plant that promises to tackle housing, carbon and safety challenges in that country.

ARC specialists in OSSB technology assisted in aspects of plant design and commissioning in China, and were on-hand when the first wheat-straw building panels came off the production line October 18.  The new manufacturing plant is located in Yangling, a city with a large agricultural and bio-tech industry base in the Shaanxi province about 1,000 km southwest of Beijing. When fully operational, the PBH plant will produce up to 5,000 panels of 4 X 8 OSSB boards each day. When plant construction began in March, PBH’s parent company, Mayfair Gmbh, committed to re-building a fallen rural Chinese school nearby using OSSB and steel construction methods. PBH is also constructing low-cost housing on contract in rural China, using the OSSB created from local straw supplies.

“This is a great example of how a technology developed in Alberta can make a big impact in the world, both environmentally and socially,” says Wayne Wasylciw, ARC’s project lead in Edmonton. “The circumstances in China lend themselves perfectly to this technology, turning a regional waste stream into building supplies while reducing their carbon footprint and providing much-needed housing.”

ARC has been perfecting the OSSB technology since the mid-1990’s. ARC researchers created a machine to split the straw to lie flat for better bonding, and then created methods to create OSSB using the same resins that are used in wood-based OSB (oriented strand board). Panel Board Holdings has worked with ARC for years, and now sees a great opportunity for OSSB to fulfill a dire demand for building materials in China.

“It is our mission to be the market leader in manufactory agri-waste/fiber-based panel boards that will contribute to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, preserve the world’s forests and develop sustainable growth to developing and emerging economies,” says Krijn Leendertse, President of Panel Board Holdings who was present in Yangling for the first panel production run.

China is deficient in wood for construction yet has an excess of straw that is burned by farmers, releasing smog and carbon into the atmosphere. Demand for housing has forced the excavation of food-producing land for clay brick-making, yet those brick and cement buildings are susceptible to earthquakes. By using waste straw to create OSSB building panels, Panel Board Holdings is sparking a new value stream for Chinese farmers, reducing carbon emissions from burning straw and from brick and cement production, and building earthquake-resistant low-cost housing from OSSB and steel studs using western construction methods. PBH is in the process of developing a methodology in order to quality for carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism, a United Nations initiative.

About ARC:
The Alberta Research Council develops and helps partners deploy leading edge technology in the province, across the country and around the world.  The returns on the Alberta Research Council’s projects contribute to building a prosperous province, securing a sustainable future and maintaining a high quality of life for Albertans.

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For more information, please contact:

Bonni Clark
Corporate Relations
Alberta Research Council
(780) 450-5277 direct
(780) 722-8672 cell

Jennifer Moncion
Communications Advisor
Alberta Research Council
(780) 632-8409 direct
(780) 603-8940 cell