Today, wood is mainly used for timber, board and paper products, but in the future there will be a great business opportunity for a broader range of products including for example composites, barrier layers and high performing materials as carbon fibers. For the production of these types of products, it is normally an advantage to start with a wood component (e.g. cellulose, lignin or any of the hemicelluloses) with specific properties and composition (often a quite pure component). Consequently, the first step for the production of the new products will be to develop efficient and economically feasible novel processes for the separation of the components in the wood.
One challenge is that the different wood components, cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin are difficult to extract in intact form, due to that lignin covalent crosslink polysaccharides in entire networks. The wood separation may, thus, be divided in two main parts:
The primary separation step: where the main polymers in the wood (cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin) are decoupled as careful and selective as possible.
The downstream separation: where the wood components are separated from each other and if needed purified.
There are a number of plausible ways to carry out these separations and it is likely that an efficient process will consist of a combination of chemical, physical, enzymatic and mechanical methods.
One of the main challenges is to decouple the covalent lignin-polysaccharide networks in wood. To meet this challenge we will have a broad approach from the start and develop a general toolbox that will be used for design of general as well as specialized processes. In the toolbox we will develop chemical as well as enzymatic methods for decoupling of the polymers and mechanical methods for making the wood structure more porous and/or defibrillate the cellulose. The result of this step will be one or several mixtures (solutions and or suspensions) with the decoupled wood polymers. These mixtures will be refined in the downstream separation process area.
During development of new processes, it is well known that high cost of downstream separation processes is a potential “showstopper”. We have identified three operations likely to be involved in downstream operations of the future: membrane separation, filtration and large-scale chromatography separation. These operations often imply a high investment cost. The main objective is to find the best possible conditions for separation of the components. Furthermore, when possible, the objective is also to investigate how existing equipment may be used for these separations.
Enzymes have a large potential in the manufacture of novel products from wood, due to their high specificity as catalysts. By the use of enzymes, it is possible to perform technical processes that are not possible with conventional methods. In this project, enzymes are applied both in the extraction of various wood components and in further processing of the fractions. Such techniques include degradation of lignin polysaccharide networks, lignin modification and increase of the chemical reactivity of cellulose. In addition, techniques for degradation of wood polymers to monomers that can be used for fermentation and other purposes are included. Many interesting enzymes are already commercially available, but novel types of enzymes will also be searched for in the center, mainly from different types of microorganisms. The objectives are: To identify enzymes that can degrade, partly or fully, the wood polymer structure or that can modify the isolated wood polymers; To produce the relevant enzymes; To develop suitable and cost efficient technology for the use of enzymes in all the different processes related to the program.
Even if we will start in a small scale we will in the end test the methods in bench/small pilot scale. One reason is to be able to scale up the processes and another is to provide other parts in the project with raw material.
From wood chips to material components
Today, wood is mainly used for timber, board and paper products, but in the future there will be a great business opportunity for a broader range of products including for example composites, barrier layers and high performing materials as carbon fibers. For the production of these types of products, it is normally an advantage to start with a wood component (e.g. cellulose, lignin or any of the hemicelluloses) with specific properties and composition (often a quite pure component). Consequently, the first step for the production of the new products will be to develop efficient and economically feasible novel processes for the separation of the components in the wood.
One challenge is that the different wood components, cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin are difficult to extract in intact form, due to that lignin covalent crosslink polysaccharides in entire networks. The wood separation may, thus, be divided in two main parts:
There are a number of plausible ways to carry out these separations and it is likely that an efficient process will consist of a combination of chemical, physical, enzymatic and mechanical methods.
One of the main challenges is to decouple the covalent lignin-polysaccharide networks in wood. To meet this challenge we will have a broad approach from the start and develop a general toolbox that will be used for design of general as well as specialized processes. In the toolbox we will develop chemical as well as enzymatic methods for decoupling of the polymers and mechanical methods for making the wood structure more porous and/or defibrillate the cellulose. The result of this step will be one or several mixtures (solutions and or suspensions) with the decoupled wood polymers. These mixtures will be refined in the downstream separation process area.
During development of new processes, it is well known that high cost of downstream separation processes is a potential “showstopper”. We have identified three operations likely to be involved in downstream operations of the future: membrane separation, filtration and large-scale chromatography separation. These operations often imply a high investment cost. The main objective is to find the best possible conditions for separation of the components. Furthermore, when possible, the objective is also to investigate how existing equipment may be used for these separations.
Enzymes have a large potential in the manufacture of novel products from wood, due to their high specificity as catalysts. By the use of enzymes, it is possible to perform technical processes that are not possible with conventional methods. In this project, enzymes are applied both in the extraction of various wood components and in further processing of the fractions. Such techniques include degradation of lignin polysaccharide networks, lignin modification and increase of the chemical reactivity of cellulose. In addition, techniques for degradation of wood polymers to monomers that can be used for fermentation and other purposes are included. Many interesting enzymes are already commercially available, but novel types of enzymes will also be searched for in the center, mainly from different types of microorganisms. The objectives are: To identify enzymes that can degrade, partly or fully, the wood polymer structure or that can modify the isolated wood polymers; To produce the relevant enzymes; To develop suitable and cost efficient technology for the use of enzymes in all the different processes related to the program.
Even if we will start in a small scale we will in the end test the methods in bench/small pilot scale. One reason is to be able to scale up the processes and another is to provide other parts in the project with raw material.