The International Panel Products Symposium is the leading technical conference on wood based panels. It is an ideal networking opportunity for science and industry reporting developments in particleboard, OSB, MDF, plywood and fibreboard.

Review of IPPS 2023

  • Proceedings from IPPS 2023 are available from the BioComposites Centre
    More info

3-4 October 2023

The International Panel Products Symposium was back in force after a three-year long gap due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The conference team was delighted to welcome back seasoned IPPS delegates, and to see many new faces in the audience! As ever, the charm of Llandudno, a Victorian seaside town on the North Wales coast, enhanced the experience.

The keynote speaker was Alastair Kerr of the Wood Panel Industries Federation in the UK, considering the reoute to Net Zero - following an in depth study of the sector. Other talk in the session continued the theme, considering the low embodied carbon of wood panels, carbon storage and the circular economy. Exciting developments in MDF recycling were reported in a joint presentation by Craig Bartlett of MDF Recovery and Luca Ballerin of PAL.

This set the tone for a great two days, during which delegates enjoyed a wide range of talks on research, development and the future of wood based panels. The need to innovate remains key, and presentations considered innovative feedstocks, biobased resins and waxes, efficiency in production, machine learning and modelling options for optimisation.

Across the programme several talks considered innovative wood modification techniques or treatments for chips and fibre to enhance bonding or other properties in the final panels. VOC emissions were well explored, including novel resin systems and some impressive new methods for monitoring or quantifying emissions. Many talks highlighted the need to address new challenges or left research avenues open for further innovation. We are looking forward to seeing this progress at IPPS 2025!

An excellent set of posters were exhibited from many students and academics. The winner of the poster prize was Alexander Scharf of Lulea Technological University. It was also great to see discussions prompted by all the trade exhibits. A special mention for BASF, who had some beautiful mouldings using their new adhesive system, and Accsys caught the interest of many delegates with the lack of degradation visible in long term weathered samples of the acetylated MDF, Tricoya.

As always a great deal of discussion and networking occurred between sessions, and at the conference dinner.

Also awarded at the conference dinner was the Harry Earl Memorial Prize. This year two recipients shared the prize, Gulsah Balamut from Kastamonu and Sofia Goncalves of the University of Porto.

We would like to thank all our sponsors, speakers, poster presenters and exhibitors for making the event such a success.

If you missed the event and want to know who spoke or more about the technical content, the final programme is still available here. Copies of the conference proceedings are available from The BioComposites Centre.

IPPS 2023 was sponsored by Accsys, Chemical Release Company, Hywax and MDF Recovery. We are grateful to their contribution to making IPPS 2019 such a successful event.

 

If you missed the event you can find out more in the write up published in Wood Based Panels International (WBPI report). We hope you will join us next time!