14 DAY TRIAL // Human society has been pretty creative when it comes to figuring out new ways to use potatoes. Frying them and sticking them in an oven next to a chicken are just some of the things people have tried. Still, it's hats off to researchers at the University of Leicester and their figuring out that potatoes can be used to make furniture.
And not the kind of furniture Lady Gaga alone would have in her home.
As explained on the University's official website, Professor Andrew Abbot and his colleagues have created a new environmentally friendly type of medium density fiberboard (MDF, for short) using a resin based on starch extracted from natural sources such as potatoes.
This resin is meant to replace the urea and formaldehyde, neither of which is environmentally friendly, currently used alongside wax in the process of manufacturing fiberboards.
Specifically, the resin is supposed to make wood fibers stick together when pressurized.
The researchers have already used the resin to roll out several fiberboards, which they later turned into retail display units.
“It has been a technological challenge to develop material with the correct properties, but it is a great thrill to see the finished boards which look identical to the MDF which is so commonly used,” Dr. Will Wise explained.
The innovative material is expected to one day replace the MDF that is presently used to make furniture and other “woody” things people keep in their homes and offices. Unlike run-off-the-mill MDF, it can be recycled, so disposing of it once it is no longer usable will not be that big of an issue.
“It is impressive to see someone take a material that is commonplace in all of our homes and solve its key limitations. Professor Abbott has managed to re-invent MDF, transforming it into a product that has much more relevance in an environmentally conscious society,” Professor Anthony Cheetham with the Royal Society commented on this project.
This past October 31, Professor Andrew Abbot was given the Royal Society Brian Mercer Award for Innovation 2013 for his work on this new and eco-friendly type of fiberboard.