Purpose This study aims to prepare a low-formaldehyde and environmentally friendly glucose-lignin-based phenolic resin. Design/methodology/approach The authors directly used lignin to substitute formaldehyde to prepare lignin-based phenolic resin (LPF) with urea as formaldehyde absorbent. To improve the performance of the adhesive, the biobased glucose was introduced and the modified glucose-LPF (GLPF) was obtained. Findings The results showed that when the replacing amount of lignin to formaldehyde reached 15 Wt.%, the physical properties of the prepared LPF met the Chinese national standard, and the bonding strength increased by 21.9%, from 0.75 to 0.96 MPa, compared with PF. The addition of glucose boost the performance of wood adhesive, for example, the free phenol content of the obtained GLPF was significantly reduced by 79.11%, from 5.60% to 1.17%, the bonding strength (1.19 MPa) of GLPF increased by 19.3% in comparison to LPF and the curing temperature of GLPF decreased by 13.08%. Practical implications The low-formaldehyde and environmentally friendly GLPF has higher bonding strength and lower curing temperature, which is profitable to industrial application. Social implications The prepared GLPF has lower free formaldehyde and formaldehyde emission, which is cost-effective and beneficial to human health. Originality/value The joint work of lignin and glucose provides the wood adhesive with increased bonding strength, decreased free phenol content and reduced curing temperature.

In this paper, a low-formaldehyde and environmentally friendly phenol-formaldehyde resin wood adhesive was prepared by directly using lignin to substitute formaldehyde, which was further modified by glucose to improve the physical, mechanical, and curing properties. The results showed that when the replacing amount of lignin to formaldehyde reached 15 wt%, the physical properties of the prepared lignin-based-phenolic resin (LPF) can meet the Chinese national standard, and the bonding strength can increase by 21.9%, from 0.75 MPa to 0.96 MPa, compared with phenolic resin (PF). The addition of glucose boost the performance of wood adhesive, for example, the free phenol content of the obtained glucose-lignin-based phenolic resin (GLPF) significantly reduced by 79.11%, from 5.60–1.17%, the bonding strength (1.19 MPa) of GLPF increased by 19.3% in comparison to LPF, and the curing temperature of GLPF decreased by 13.08%. FT-IR results showed that the main structure of the resin did not change before and after substitution by lignin and modification by glucose. The present study provides a simple and green method for preparing resins.