Lignin is the most abundant natural resource of aromatics on earth. Due to the societal changes towards a bioeconomy where replacements of fossil-based aromatics by renewable ones is targeted, lignin is of high interest as a polymer precursor for different applications. About one third of the lignocellulosic biomass is constituted of lignin, and today technical lignin that are obtained from the kraft and sulfite pulping is used as an energy source. One problem with technical lignin for material applications is the heterogeneity.<br/>Alcohol-based organosolv pulping is a well-known pulping process that has been tested in small scale plants. It has shown promising results with less heterogeneous lignin compared to kraft lignin. The process is also more green and sustainable pulping technique due to the solvent systems that are used. Ethanol, that is often used as the organic solvent in the solvent system, is a green solvent that can be produced from biomass.<br/>The mechanisms involved in organosolv lignin have to our knowledge not been subject to deep structural- and mechanistic studies, which can be central to designing and optimizing the process for production of more homogeneous lignins with attractive chemical and physical characteristics for use as polymer precursors. This study therefore aims at elucidating mechanisms during lignin extraction with ethanol. The adopted approach is unique and performed in two steps. In the first step hemicellulose is extracted with water at sub-critical conditions. This is followed by organosolv ethanol extraction with acid catalyst. The extracted lignin’s are investigated in function of time, where time dependent changes are studied and are connected to reaction mechanisms<br/>Detailed NMR characterization for structure include both 1D and 2D techniques, while size exclusion chromatography will be used to study the molar mass.

Elucidating mechanisms and structural changes during organosolv lignin extraction

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.