Reports

Fish oils as a part of wood varnish and protection

Published:

25/05/2020

Authors:

Ásbjörn Jónsson, Tryggvi Pétursson

Supported by:

AVS Fisheries Research Fund (R17 002-1)

Fish oils as part of wood varnish and protection.

Fish oils were used as a wood preservative in earlier centuries and proved successful. Knowledge of fish oils as part of wood preservation, however, has largely been lost. But with the growing public interest in returning to antiquity and raw materials, as well as in connection with better knowledge of old methods, a layer is created to be used for significantly increased value, fish oils that now fall into the "waste category" are sold at scrap value. In order for this to happen, however, various production and product development problems need to be solved. With this in mind, the project "Fish oils as part of wood preservation" was established, which was funded by the AVS Fund. The aim of the project was to develop a product from fish oils for use as part of wood preservation, as well as to determine production processes for converting dirty crude oil into valuable wood oil.

The results of the project showed that fish oils and oils from pelagic fish are well suited as wood preservatives, but sterine can not be used as it precipitates at room temperature and does not mix with other raw materials. The world market for wood protection was estimated at ISK 200 billion. in 2016 (USD 1,530 million) and it is therefore clear that there may be significant opportunities to utilize fish oils as part of wood preservation.

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