Ecotoxicity and Biodegradation of Sustainable Environment-Friendly Bone-Glue-Based Adhesive Suitable for Insulation Materials

Bone glue with sodium lignosulfonate is a protein-based adhesive. Their combination leads to strong binding necessary for the achievement of adhesive properties. However, biodegradation and ecotoxicity of materials composed of bone glue and sodium lignosulfonate has never been studied before. In this paper, the biodegradation potential of the mixture of bone glue, lignosulfonate and rape straw modified by water or NaOH on an agar test with aerial molds and in acute aquatic tests with mustard, yeasts, algae and crustaceans was analyzed. Epoxy resin as an ecologically unfriendly binder was used as a negative control and pure rape straw as a background. The results indicated that all samples were covered by molds, but the samples containing straw treated by NaOH showed lower biodegradability. The ecotoxicological effects varied among the applied model organisms. Artemia salina was not able to survive and S. alba could not prolong roots in the eluates of all samples (100% inhibition). Freshwater algae (D. subspicatus) were not significantly affected by the samples (max. 12% inhibition, max. 16% stimulation). The biomass of yeasts (S. cerevisae) was strongly stimulated in the presence of eluates in a comparison to control (max. 38% stimulation).