Lignin Esters of Mono- and Dibasic Aliphatic Acids

Mechanically recyclable melt-spun fibers from lignin esters and iron oxide nanoparticles: towards circular lignin materials

The inferior thermoplastic properties have limited production of melt-spun fibers from lignin. Here we report on the controlled esterification of softwood kraft lignin (SKL) to enable scalable, solvent-free melt spinning of microfibers using a cotton candy machine. We found that it is crucial to control the esterification process as melt-spun fibers could be produced from lignin oleate and lignin stearate precursors with degrees of esterification (DE) ranging from 20-50%, but not outside this range. To fabricate a functional hybrid material, we incorporated magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) into the lignin oleate fibers by melt blending and subsequent melt spinning. Thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray diffraction studies revealed that increasing the weight fraction of MNPs led to improved thermal stability of the fibers. Finally, we demonstrated adsorption of organic dyes, magnetic recovery, and recycling via melt spinning of the regular and magnetic fibers with 95% and 83% retention of the respective adsorption capacities over three adsorption cycles. The mechanical recyclability of the microfibers represents a new paradigm in lignin-based circular materials.

Kraft Lignin: A Valuable, Sustainable Resource, Opportunities and Challenges

Kraft lignin, a by-product from the production of pulp, is currently incinerated in the recovery boiler during the chemical recovery cycle, generating valuable bioenergy and recycling inorganic chemicals to the pulping process operation. Removing lignin from the black liquor or its gasification lowers the recovery boiler load enabling increased pulp production. During the past ten years, lignin separation technologies have emerged and the interest of the research community to valorize this underutilized resource has been invigorated. The aim of this Review is to give (1) a dedicated overview of the kraft process with a focus on the lignin, (2) an overview of applications that are being developed, and (3) a techno-economic and life cycle asseeements of value chains from black liquor to different products. Overall, it is anticipated that this effort will inspire further work for developing and using kraft lignin as a commodity raw material for new applications undeniably promoting pivotal global sustainability concerns.

Debottlenecking a Pulp Mill by Producing Biofuels from Black Liquor in Three Steps

By extracting lignin, pulp production can be increased without heavy investments in a new recovery boiler, the typical bottleneck of a pulp mill. The extraction is performed by using 0.20 and 0.15 weight equivalents of CO2 and H2 SO4 respectively. Herein, we describe lignin esterification with fatty acids using benign reagents to generate a lignin ester mixable with gas oils. The esterification is accomplished by activating the fatty acid and lignin with acetic anhydride which can be regenerated from the acetic acid recycled in this reaction. The resulting mass balance ratio is fatty acid/lignin/acetic acid (2 : 1 : 0.1). This lignin ester can be hydroprocessed to generate hydrocarbons in gasoline, aviation, and diesel range. A 300-hour continuous production of fuel was accomplished. By recirculating reagents from both the esterification step and applying a water gas shift reaction on off-gases from the hydroprocessing, a favorable overall mass balance is realized.

Sustainable Esterification of a Soda Lignin with Phloretic Acid

In this work, a sustainable chemical process was developed through the Fischer esterification of Protobind^® lignin, a wheat straw soda lignin, and phloretic acid, a naturally occurring phenolic acid. It aimed at increasing the reactivity of lignin by enhancing the number of unsubstituted phenolic groups via a green and solvent-free chemical pathway. The structural features of the technical and esterified lignins were characterized by complementary spectroscopic techniques, including ¹H, ¹³C, ³¹P, and two-dimensional analysis. A substantial increase in p-hydroxyphenyl units was measured (+64%, corresponding to an increase of +1.3 mmol g⁻¹). A full factorial design of the experiment was employed to quantify the impact of critical variables on the conversion yield. The subsequent statistical analysis suggested that the initial molar ratio between the two precursors was the factor predominating the yield of the reaction. Hansen solubility parameters of both the technical and esterified lignins were determined by solubility assays in multiple solvents, evidencing their high solubility in common organic solvents. The esterified lignin demonstrated a better thermal stability as the onset of thermal degradation shifted from 157 to 220 °C, concomitantly to the shift of the glass transition from 92 to 112 °C. In conclusion, the esterified lignin showed potential for being used as sustainable building blocks for composite and thermoset applications.

Preparation and characterization of biodegradable lignin-sulfonate nanoparticles using the microemulsion method to enhance the acetylation efficiency of lignin-sulfonate

In this study, a novel method is presented for producing lignin-sulfonate nanoparticles. Then, the effect of produced nanoparticles is investigated on enhancing the acetylation efficiency. For these purposes, lignin-sulfonate was isolated from black-liquor of pulp-and-paper mill wastewater. Next, lignin-sulfonate nanoparticles were obtained using the oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsion, followed by modification of micro/nano-lignin-sulfonate particles. The physical, chemical, and morphological properties of lignin sulfonate micro/nanoparticles and modified forms of both samples were analyzed using FTIR, DLS, FE-SEM, AFM, ¹H NMR, and ¹³CNMR analyses. Surface morphology revealed that the nanoparticles were homogenized and spherical with an average diameter of 25.5 nm. The chemical structure of the nanoparticles was similar to that of the microparticles. On the other hand, the chemical structure of acetylated lignin-sulfonate was slightly different from that of unmodified samples. The results also showed that the production of nano-lignin-sulfonate increased the acetylation efficiency and reduced the time and temperature of acetylation.

Green Diesel from Kraft Lignin in Three Steps

Precipitated kraft lignin from black liquor was converted into green diesel in three steps. A mild Ni-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation/hydrogenolysis using 2-propanol generated a lignin residue in which the ethers, carbonyls, and olefins were reduced. An organocatalyzed esterification of the lignin residue with an in situ prepared tall oil fatty acid anhydride gave an esterified lignin residue that was soluble in light gas oil. The esterified lignin residue was coprocessed with light gas oil in a continous hydrotreater to produce a green diesel. This approach will enable the development of new techniques to process commercial lignin in existing oil refinery infrastructures to standardized transportation fuels in the future.

Lignin-ester derivatives as novel thermoplastic materials

Biobased products such as lignin and cellulose were used to develop eco-friendly thermoplastic composites with interesting thermal and mechanical properties.

Interactions of Kraft lignin and wheat gluten during biomaterial processing: evidence for the role of phenolic groups

The chemical interactions between Kraft lignin and wheat gluten under processing conditions were investigated by determining the extent of the protein network formation. To clarify the role of different chemical functions found in lignin, the effect of Kraft lignin was compared with that of an esterified lignin, in which hydroxyl groups had been suppressed by esterification, and with a series of simple aromatics and phenolic structures with different functionalities (conjugated double bonds, hydroxyl, carboxylic acid, and aldehyde). The protein solubility was determined by using the Kjeldahl method. The role of the hydroxyl function was assessed by the significantly lower effect of esterified lignin. The importance of the phenolic radical scavenging structure is evidenced by the effect of guaiacol, which results in a behavior similar to that of the Kraft lignin. In addition, the significant effect of conjugated double bonds on gluten reactivity, through nucleophilic addition, was demonstrated.

Lignin esters for use in unsaturated thermosets: lignin modification and solubility modeling

Kraft lignins from hardwood and softwood were esterified with several anhydrides to alter their solubility behavior in nonpolar solvents, such as styrene-containing thermoset resins. The esterification reaction was facile, it reduced the amount of waste products, and can be readily scaled up. Increasing the carbon chain length on the ester group improved the solubility of kraft lignin in nonpolar solvents, with butyrated lignin being completely soluble in styrene. Esterification with unsaturated groups such as methacrylic anhydride, improved the solubility to a lesser extent than the saturated analogues. The solubility behavior of the modified lignin was described using the Flory-Huggins solubility theory, combined with the predictive method of Hoy. The main goal to obtain a styrene soluble kraft lignin that could be used in unsaturated polyesters and vinyl esters was achieved with fully butyrated kraft lignin and a butyrated/methacrylated kraft lignin. The solubility of the latter is governed by the butyrate/methacrylate ratio. The reaction rate constants for the butyration and methacrylation reactions were also determined and the aromatic hydroxyl groups were found to be consistently three times more reactive than the aliphatic ones.