COHUSK (KLAFFENBÖCK)

COHUSK from Salzburg is producing 100% sustainable and biodegradable materials based on corn production leftovers, aiming to reduce the dependency on materials with high embedded energy and/or with long raw material regeneration periods. All materials are produced according to circular economy principles and could have potential applications in the fields of design, construction and packaging

Creating a very robust fibre board without oil-based resins, in order to substitute also stronger materials, is a challenge, especially as COHUSK is focusing on a circular economy production process. In order to produce an adhesive-free panel, certain parameters such as material composition, fraction size, pressing pressure, pressing temperature and material moisture must be well adjusted together.

Corn grows very fast and in large quantities. The challenge is to exploit its high renewal rate compared to other materials and to upgrade agricultural waste – corn husks and stems – which have a low impact to the environment. Within the framework of this project, various prototypes without adhesives with different densities were produced in so-called wet process and further analysed.