Lignin Carbohydrate Complexes: Impact on a Forest Biorefinery
Dr. Martin Lawoko, Assistant Professor at WWSC
WWSC conference room, Teknikringen 56
Abstract
There is interest in acquiring new bulk products from renewable resources, e.g. lignocellulosic materials such as wood, which is attractive since it contains the worlds most abundant natural polymers, i.e. cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. To meet this goal, the fractionation of wood into its constitutional polymers, while preserving the unique polymeric properties of each component, is a critical step. The purity of the fractionated polymers may vary depending on the target product. In any case, the separation of wood polymers into distinct polymeric components is a challenge. One of these challenges stems from the strong associations between lignin and the hemicelluloses, commonly referred to as lignin carbohydrate complexes (LCC). To separate these two components, chemical bonds have to be cleaved as selectively as is possible, which is not an easy task from a research point of view for the following reasons:
1) Optimal methods of isolation of LCC for studies are limited
2) The exact number of bond types and the bond frequencies are still not known
3) Methods to analyze and quantify these bonds are still limited
4) From a processing point of view, conditions selective to cleavage of LC bonds are non-existent
The presentation will introduce some of the advances in research on this topic performed at KTH and at the University of Maine, as well as discuss some of the research challenges.
Seminar 24 september at 15:00 on Lignin Carbohydrate Complexes
Lignin Carbohydrate Complexes: Impact on a Forest Biorefinery
Dr. Martin Lawoko, Assistant Professor at WWSC
WWSC conference room, Teknikringen 56
Abstract
There is interest in acquiring new bulk products from renewable resources, e.g. lignocellulosic materials such as wood, which is attractive since it contains the worlds most abundant natural polymers, i.e. cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. To meet this goal, the fractionation of wood into its constitutional polymers, while preserving the unique polymeric properties of each component, is a critical step. The purity of the fractionated polymers may vary depending on the target product. In any case, the separation of wood polymers into distinct polymeric components is a challenge. One of these challenges stems from the strong associations between lignin and the hemicelluloses, commonly referred to as lignin carbohydrate complexes (LCC). To separate these two components, chemical bonds have to be cleaved as selectively as is possible, which is not an easy task from a research point of view for the following reasons:
1) Optimal methods of isolation of LCC for studies are limited
2) The exact number of bond types and the bond frequencies are still not known
3) Methods to analyze and quantify these bonds are still limited
4) From a processing point of view, conditions selective to cleavage of LC bonds are non-existent
The presentation will introduce some of the advances in research on this topic performed at KTH and at the University of Maine, as well as discuss some of the research challenges.