An energy efficient closed cycle process converts lignin from pulping side stream into water-dispersible colloidal spheres and microclusters.

Economical large-scale production of colloidal lignin particles.

Wood is increasingly replacing concrete to reduce CO2 emissions in buildings, but fossil-based adhesives are still being used in wood panels. Epoxidized lignin adhesives could be a potential replacement, but...

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Furfural has been highlighted as one of the top ten most rewarding bio-based building blocks by the US Department of Energy. In this study, furfural was produced from xylose and birch hydrolysate liquor employing a batch reactor in a biphasic system. The formation of furfural was conducted under auto-catalyzed conditions. 2-sec-Butylphenol was used as extractant to promptly extract furfural from the aqueous phase in order to minimize furfural degradation reactions. The effect of time, temperature, and organic-to-aqueous phase ratio were investigated. The maximum furfural yields from xylose and birch hydrolysate liquor as feedstock under auto-catalyzed conditions when employing 2-sec-butylphenol (SBP) were 59 mol% and 54 mol%, respectively. In the monophasic system when using hydrolysate, 46% furfural was yielded. Based on a techno-economic analysis carried out for furfural, the total investment cost for a plant integrated with an existing pulp mill or bio-refinery is estimated as 14 M€. The minimum selling price of furfural found to be 1.62 € kg−1. With a furfural selling price of 1.93 € kg−1, the payback period is approximately 5 years and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 20.7% is achieved at the end of the project lifetime.

Colloidal lignin particles (CLPs) are potentially one of the sustainable alternatives for petroleum-based feedstock. CLPs address the heterogeneity of lignin by enhancing its homogeneous dispersion in aqueous phases. The main production steps are dissolving lignin in tetrahydrofuran, diluting the solution with ethanol, forming CLPs through self-assembly after encountering water, recovering solvents, and finally drying CLPs. In this process, solvent recovery plays an important role in mitigating environmental problems. However, the formation of azeotropes makes the separation process energy-intensive and costly. In this work, two separation methods, evaporation and distillation, are modelled in Aspen Plus ® and compared based on their total annual costs (TACs). Sizing and cost estimations are conducted based on vendor quotations and using design and economic analyzer tools. Resultsshow that distillation reduces costs by up to 37% compared to evaporation. Accordingly, as the main separation unit, distillation parameters are optimized based on the minimum TAC.

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