Translucent wood is made by eliminating the lignin content of the wood.
The amount of single-use plastics that are currently used and then wasted globally is more than 400 million tons per year.
According to a study, transparent wood holds potential as an environmentally friendly alternative to glass or plastics used to make biomedical equipment, see-through packaging and automotive windshields.
Translucent wood is made by eliminating the lignin content of wood and replacing it with a transparent, plastic material. It was first created in 1992 by German scientist Siegfried Fink and has since been refined by other researchers. Unlike plastics, lignin is a naturally occurring biopolymer that supports plant tissue and is non-toxic.
The amount of single-use plastics that are currently used and then wasted globally is more than 400 million tons per year. One of the most promising replacement materials for the future is translucent wood, which is now appearing according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
Most of the time, small slices of wood are used to make transparent wood, which is stronger than traditional wood but lighter in weight. It is a uniquely bio-based substrate with a wide range of applications due to its ability to incorporate specialized materials to provide diverse and advanced features.
Prodyut Dhar, a study author and assistant professor in the Department of Biochemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, claimed that transparent wood can replace petroleum-based plastics that are harmful to the environment, such as polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), acrylic polythene, etc. .
The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Ecosystem, claims that the renewable and biodegradable properties of translucent wood have helped it have a less negative ecological impact on the environment. Additionally, it is claimed to be cost-effective as it is five times more efficient than glass, significantly reducing energy costs.
The authors claim that the manufacture of transparent wood using sodium chlorite to remove lignin and epoxy penetration has little impact on the environment compared to approaches that typically employ methacrylate polymers.
Glass, which is naturally fragile, has been replaced by plastic. However, life-cycle research has shown that translucent wood is an even more beneficial option from an ecological standpoint, according to Dhar.
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