Scientists Find Out a Method to Convert Lignin into Valuable Chemicals

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have disclosed a new method to convert lignin, a biomass waste product, into simple chemicals. The innovation is an important step toward replacing petroleum-based fuels and chemicals with bio-renewable materials. Lignin is the substance that makes trees and cornstalks sturdy, and it accounts for nearly 30% of the organic carbon in the biosphere. Lignin is a complex material containing chains of six-carbon rings. These rings, called "aromatics," could be the basis for sustainable production of important chemical building blocks, but only if the chains of lignin can be broken down into the individual units. Aromatics are used to make many products, including coloured organic pigments. Today, the aromatics are almost exclusively derived from petroleum. In work funded by the Great Lakes Bio-Energy Research Centre at UW-Madison, it has been shown that high yields of aromatics may be obtained by exposure of lignin to oxygen followed by treatment with a weak acid under mild conditions. The process described is the basis of a patent application filed through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and represents an important step towards finding an economical way to convert lignin to value-added materials.