Medium density fibreboard (MDF) is a single-use mass product that can be found in every interior space worldwide, in kitchens, furniture, offices, shop fittings and DIY. It is an engineered wood-based panel consisting of refined virgin wood fibres with synthetic glue, wax and a decorative overlay. Production of MDF is global including within 21 EU states. It equates to more than 100M m3 every year (>75M tons), an equivalent to the volume nearly 40 times the Pyramid of Cheops (2.58M m3).
The manufacturing process is complex and since the uptake of mass production in the 1980s, MDF has been considered unrecyclable, as all previous efforts to recycle end-of-life MDF and recover the high value wood fibres turned out to be technically and economically unfeasible. According to actual figures, the unexploited volume of this secondary raw material in EU is in the range of 2.6M tons to 3.9M tons annually. Common waste disposal routes for waste MDF are landfilling or burning, generating atmospheric emissions of 250kt CO2 p.a. in the EU, thereby discarding the carbon stock potential of wood to mitigate climate change.
MDF Recovery Ltd (“MDFR”) has developed the world’s first commercially viable process (the MDFR technology) for recycling waste MDF. Experts in the fields of thermal engineering, process engineering and wood science have carried out this work. The MDFR technology breaks waste MDF down into its original components. The majority of this output is wood fibre, which can be used in a range of industries hungry for this material, at a cost which is considerably less than the equivalent virgin material. All glues and additives removed from the waste MDF are managed via proven treatment techniques with process water re-used on site.
The opportunities for this technology are significant, with a worldwide demand for the introduction of Closed Loop Recycling into this sector.
The MDFR technology will positively disrupt the existing linear supply chain and demonstrate a Circular approach to future MDF manufacturing, a sector that produces 75M tons of product per year at a value of €32BN.
