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Six years after their installation on the world’s longest sea crossing, thousands of bamboo panels have withstood six years of intense exposure to the elements without issue.
A report published by engineers in the Chinese paper Science and Technology Daily claims the panels are “as solid as ever,” a mark of success for China’s blossoming bamboo engineering industry, where the world’s fastest-growing plant is becoming its fastest-growing construction material.
While walking last spring through the city of Lucknow, India, I saw a tall concrete water tower under construction. The concrete was clearly setting; it was that dark grey color typical of wet cement, and every right angle was sharp as a knife edge.
I was left in utter shock as every square foot of structure all the way up to the basin at the top was supported by a half-dozen tall trunks of bamboo. Hundreds of them had been used, and they cluttered the future water tower like an artistic child’s popsicle stick sculpture.
It was a sight endemic to Asia—the home of bamboo, undoubtedly one of the world’s most remarkable plants. This member of the grass family contains more than 1,400 species spread out over 115 genera, including some which can grow over a meter a day.
But speed isn’t bamboo’s only characteristic. Some species display a tensile strength similar to steel. Some match up with hardwood lumber, and others far surpass concrete for PSI. It loves marginal land, sequesters 50% more carbon dioxide than typical trees, and some bamboo species even spark like flint when struck with an axe.
These properties make bamboo a rapidly emerging material for so much more than just the eco-friendly cutting board or bedspread you saw in IKEA.
Besting the elements
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is the world’s largest and longest sea crossing and is described sometimes as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
It consists of three cable-stayed bridges, four artificial islands, and an undersea tunnel all of which cover 34 miles (55 kilometers) of open sea beyond the Pearl River Delta.
Stretching for many miles along these installations, the scenic observation platforms are lined in 215,000 square feet of DassoXTR bamboo floor panels that have withstood sunlight, typhoons, and seawater corrosion, remaining “as solid as ever,” according to the report in the Daily.
These panels have been specially engineered to act as composite building materials through an innovative heat treatment to remove the tendency of bamboo to rapidly decay due to its rich nutrient stores.
Lou Zhichao, from Nanjing Forestry University’s Bamboo Research Institute, has been working on treatments like these to improve bamboo’s versatility and durability. The heat treatment was perfected in 2016, but since then his institute has developed a low-emission adhesive with reduced formaldehyde and phenol levels specifically designed to create composite bamboo products while adhering to strict emissions codes for the European market.
“China is not only the world’s largest bamboo producer but also holds a comparative advantage in processing capabilities,” Lou told the Daily, which added the total Chinese market is worth around $74.2 billion.
“Maintaining China’s leadership in bamboo technology innovation is crucial. The industry should focus on advancing automation and smart manufacturing while actively shaping international standards.”
In 2023, China announced a three-year plan to promote “bamboo instead of plastic,” to increase bamboo utilization by 20% by 2025 in an effort to reduce plastic waste. That means more bamboo in everything from construction to packaging. WaL
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PICTURED ABOVE: A stretch of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge. PC: Xinhua.
