User:Kmd1040/Urea-formaldehyde

Article body
(edit of article Urea-formaldehyde ; changes directly below are in bold, the Emissions section is completely new/added by me)

General uses
Urea-formaldehyde is pervasive. '''Urea-formaldehyde is widely utilized due to its inexpensive cost, quick reaction time, high bonding strength, moisture resistance, lack of color, and resistance to abrasion and microbes. .Examples include decorative laminates, textiles, paper, foundry sand molds, wrinkle-resistant fabrics, cotton blends, rayon, corduroy, etc. It is also used as wood glue. In the wood industry, it is utilized as a thermosetting adhesive to bond wood to create plywood and particleboard.''' UF (urea-formaldehyde) was commonly used when producing electrical appliances casing (e.g. desk lamps). Foams have been used as artificial snow in movies. Urea-formaldehyde is widely used in agriculture as a slow-release fertilizer, which release small amounts of the active ingredient over time.

Agricultural Emissions
Emissions from UF-based fertilizer have been found to temporarily increase localized atmospheric formaldehyde concentration and contribute to tropospheric ozone. Application of UF fertilizers in greenhouses has been found to cause significantly higher air formaldehyde concentrations within the building.

Conditions Impacting Emission Levels
Environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity, can impact the levels of formaldehyde released from urea-formaldehyde products. Exposure to higher humidity and higher temperatures can both significantly increase the amount of formaldehyde emissions from UF products, such as wood-based panel boards.

Reducing emissions
Due to concerns of free formaldehyde emissions and environmental pollution from urea-formaldehyde products, there have been effective efforts to lower the formaldehyde content in UF resins. A lower molar ratio of formaldehyde decreases the emission of free formaldehyde from UF products. There is a significant decrease in formaldehyde emissions from UF-based particleboard from F/U molar ratio of 2.0 to 1.0. The German standard for UF resins require the F/U molar ratio to be below 1.2. The U.S. NPA standard is an F/U molar ratio below 1.3.