LAUSR

Abstract Urea-formaldehyde resin (UF) or phenolic resin (PF) is used widely as binder in the production of fiberboard, and formaldehyde emissions from UF or PF is seriously harmful for human health. Eco-friendly fiberboard was produced without binder using poplar wood shavings (PWS) bio-pretreated by white rot fungi Coriolus versicolor in this study, and the correlations between the metabolites and lignocellulose components and the bending strength (BS) of fiberboard were also studied. After PWS were pretreated by C. versicolor for 21 days, the BS and water swelling ratio of the fiberboard were reached to 22.7 MPa and 12.4%, respectively. The soluble polysaccharide and reduce sugar in PWS were detected very low, which had a weak effect on the fiberboard. Lower content of hemicellulose and higher content of lignin were detected and beneficial to the BS of fiberboard. Manganese peroxidase was detected and had a lag enzymolysis effect. Laccase, lignin peroxidase and cellulase were not detected but laccase or cellulase might have a weak influence on fiberboard. The fiberboard production with this bio-pretreatment should be eco-friendly and eliminate the potential formaldehyde emission.