Number

122-EN

Section

General Section

Use

Abstract

The European wood flooring (parquet) market produces over 100 million square meters per year. Approximately 70% of wood floors are installed by bonding using specialised adhesives, with an estimated annual consumption of 70 million litres. Most of them contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other hazardous substances which are harmful to human health and the environment. Green glue is an environmentally friendly adhesive for wood-flooring installation. It does not contain VOCs, isocyanates or tin and does not release methanol.

Substituted substances

Alternative Substances

Reliability of information

Evidence of implementation: there is evidence that the solution was implemented and in use at time of publication
Evidence of assessment: there is evidence of an official (positive) assessment of the substitution

Reason substitution

sensitizing

Hazard Assessment

Substances to be substituted: Vinyltrimethoxysilane does not have a harmonised classification according to Annex VI of Regulation (EC) No. 1272/2008 (CLP Regulation) and is not included in the database according to SUBSPORTplus criteria for dangerous substances (SDSC). Alternative substance: Triethoxyoctylsilane does not have a harmonised classification according to Annex VI of Regulation (EC) No. 1272/2008 (CLP Regulation) and is not included in the database according to SUBSPORTplus criteria for dangerous substances (SDSC).

Description of Substitution

Green glue is an environmentally friendly adhesive for the wood-flooring installation, certified by the Nordic Ecolabel. It has a reduced impact on health and environment compared to current technologies such as silane based adhesives. Silane based adhesives are an alternative to adhesives containing isocyanate and solvents (toluol), but unfortunately, they are based on a silyl terminated prepolymer (methoxy-silane terminated prepolymer) and vinyltrimethoxy silane. Both substances rapidly release toxic methanol (methyl alcohol; 1-2%w/w), an odourless volatile organic compound, when they come in contact with moisture necessary for curing (coming from wood, concrete and air). Some analysis carried out by the Technical Research Institute in Sweden SP during wood floor gluing, showed that methanol in air reaches levels dangerous for workers; moreover it can be problematic for indoor air quality due to the release from parquet surface in the course of months after installation. In addition methoxy-silane technology needs an important amount of toxic tin salts as hardening catalyst (environmentally problematic, toxic to aquatic organisms). The green glue EcoSiMP®Flooring is based on ethoxy-silane technology. This technology uses an aryloxy-silane terminated prepolymer that does not release any VOC during cure and triethoxyoctyl silane that does not release methanol, nor harmful VOCs or solvents. It does not contain vinyltrimethoxy silane, isocyanates, phthalates, tin nor other heavy metals. EcoSiMP®Flooring is ready to use without mixing. It contributes to a good acoustic insulation. It is subject to the most recent EU legislation on parquet adhesives: DIN EN 14293 - "Adhesives for bonding parquet: methods and minimum requirements” and meets the stringent standards set by the European Community. The Swedish company found the green glue four years ago. As the flooring business is a traditional business it was not so easy for them to convince the installer that this glue is really better to use. In the meantime they installed thousands of square meters without any problem and all customers are very happy with this alternative.

Case/substitution evaluation

The green glue has been labelled by the Nordic Ecolabel (SWAN ECOLABEL, license no. 297 001, February 2009), the first governmental organisation to have established environmental criteria for Chemical Building Products (http://www.ecolabel.no Swan-labelling of Chemical building products Version 1.0, 29 May 2008 – 30 June 2011; ). The criteria are based on concepts of sustainability, health, environment, and quality. A Swan-labelled product must respect all these criteria and is subjected to rigid controls by the Nordic Ecolabel. The green glue does not require any changes of the work process. The cost of the green glue is slightly higher than for silyl modified polymer based adhesives.

State of implementation

In use

Date and place of implementation

2008

Enterprise using the alternative

http://www.ecolim.se/

Availability ofAlternative

On the market

Producer/Provider

http://www.nptsrl.com

Type of information supplier

Producer / distributor
Research
User

Contact

http://www.nptsrl.com http://www.ecolim.se/

Date, reviewed

December 11, 2020