It is but it completely defeats the claimed purpose of bein adhesive free.

magicalhippo 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Not my field by any means, but I think it's primarily to avoid adhesives that are difficult to handle during recycling.

Turning the paper molecules into simple sugars and using thosr as an adhesive is presumably beneficial because the sugars would easily dissolve in the water when the paper is recycled. Most other industrial adhesives as I understand it are hydrophobic, so aren't as easily removed.

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ahartmetz 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I had the same thought, but there are two differences: the amount of these compounds (presumably low) and how they behave in recycling compared to current adhesives. Maybe they wash out, maybe they can accumulate to a large degree without making the recycled paper worse.

The article doesn't tell, unfortunately. Worst case, a cool technical article is the only thing the technology is good for...

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roysting 3 hours ago | parent [-]

“Maybe they wash out” … “The article doesn’t tell”

It seems like you are engaging in rather emotional response when you admit you’re just hoping and making things up.

That is not a very scientific basis. Are you biased towards this project or Fraunhofer by any chance, maybe just Germany in general?

I agree with all the legitimate criticisms, especially considering that it is very possible that what they’re actually doing is using the laser to essentially create a hydrocarbon based glue in situ from the primary material itself.

It is an interesting discovery and process in and of itself. I’m not sure why there seems to be this obsessive defensiveness of Fraunhofer in the comments here.

There could be several reasons, but the PRopaganda people on this are going about things rather ham-fisted. My guess is that there are specific “eco” type grant or funding requirements that need to push the idea that it’s reducing “carbon” or oil dependence and can do away with mean old, no good, totally awful plastics; and cannot just be honest because of that, because all of the environmental stuff is so frequently inherently dishonest and rather delusional even, because ironically, the money of funding and profit and going to market cause their own greed, just from a different angle.

A hidden little dirty secret in Germany in particular is that all these boutique niche solutions are really just greenwashed, statist “capitalism” rather than greenbackwashed, de facto statist “capitalism”.

They’re both just theft from the multitude to enrich the minority, just by different means.

	▲	ahartmetz 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Fraunhofer institutes are not bullshit factories, they are doing research partially funded by industry, and the companies funding them are generally not the bullshit-heavy types (i.e. megacorps). The megacorps do their research in-house.

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j45 43 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Without the cost of an adhesive, and instead a really cool laser.

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lpcvoid 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Not if the produced adhesive is free of hydrocarbons, which it is.

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chopin 4 hours ago | parent [-]

The main constituent of paper is wood, which consists of hydrocarbons.

	▲	DFHippie 4 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Hydrocarbons are not carbohydrates.
	▲	roysting 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		That’s chemically not correct in and of itself, but I do wonder if through the process they are effectively creating a hydrocarbon by freeing the oxygen from the carbohydrate to create this magic non-adhesive adhesive.

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XorNot an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I mean you're eliminating an entire consumable supply chain though. Being able to have your packaging inputs be _just_ paper is a huge advantage.