Life cycle assessment of kraft lignin for polymer applications

Bernier, Etienne; Lavigne, Chantal; Robidoux, Pierre Yves

doi:10.1007/s11367-012-0503-y

Cited by 53 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…In spite of the hierarchy presented in the ISO 14044:2006 and ILCD guidelines, there seems to be no consensus on how allocation should be dealt with in practice for ligningenerating processes as approaches used in published studies vary greatly. For example, Das (2011) uses mass-based allocation, Bernier et al (2013) compare emissions before and after lignin extraction was added to a mill, and Culbertson et al (2016) used system expansion by substitution as well as mass-based and economic allocation. During the work in a previous study on the potential environmental impact of lignin-based carbon fibers, it was found that the allocation method used for the lignin-generating processes could be of great importance for the resulting environmental impact of lignin (Hermansson et al (2019)).…”

Section: Projects) In Such Technology Responsible Editor: Matthias Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Marginal Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This approach is suggested by Bernier et al (2013) and considers the difference in the impact from before and after introducing lignin extraction at a Kraft pulp mill on a systems level. Bernier et al (2013) also suggest that as the lignin extraction increases the pulp and soap production of the mill, credits for avoiding the production of these in a non-extraction mill could be added. However, as this leads to cascading allocation issues (as discussed earlier, alternative pulp and soap sources are likely also products of multi-output processes) such credits have been excluded from the current study as it has the purpose to illustrate the results of different approaches rather than to describe environmental impacts as correctly as possible.…”

Section: Marginal Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Allocation in life cycle assessment of lignin

Hermansson

Janssen

Svanström

2020

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose Lignin extraction in pulp mills and biorefineries are emerging technologies. Lignin is always the product of a multioutput process. Assessing such processes using life cycle assessment (LCA) requires the environmental impacts to be divided between the co-products of the system, referred to as allocation. This article explores different allocation approaches for lignin and illustrates the influence of the choice of allocation approach on the climate impact in a case study. Method Ten different applicable allocation methods were found in literature and two more were developed. Lignin production in a Kraft pulp mill using the LignoBoost process for lignin extraction was selected as a study object for the case study, and due to limited data availability only climate impact was considered. A cradle-to-gate LCA was done for the study object, and all of the twelve allocation approaches were applied; for eight of the methods, factors that strongly influence the results were identified and varied. Finally, the results were put in the context of cradle-to-grave LCAs from literature for different possible uses of lignin to give an indication of how important the choice of allocation approach can be when assessing lignin as a substitute for other raw materials. Results and discussion Results show that all allocation approaches tested were applicable to the special case of lignin, but each one of them comes with inherent challenges. Factors that often have a large impact on the results are (1) market and price of different outputs; (2) what is seen as the main product or the driver of the system or system changes; (3) what the surrounding system looks like and hence what other products will be displaced by outputs. These factors can be particularly challenging in prospective studies as such studies are future-oriented and consider systems that do not yet exist. Finally, the results show that the choice of allocation could have a significant influence on the climate impact on the cradle-to-grave climate impact of the final product. Conclusions We recommend for LCAs of lignin-based technologies that allocation methods are very carefully selected based on the goal and scope of the study and that when relevant, several methods are applied and factors are varied within them in a sensitivity analysis. In particular, the driver(s) of the system's existence or of changes to it, sometimes reflected in market prices of outputs, should be carefully considered.

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Section: Projects) In Such Technology Responsible Editor: Matthias Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Marginal Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Marginal Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Allocation in life cycle assessment of lignin

Hermansson

Janssen

Svanström

2020

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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“…Although studies are available on the environmental impacts of cultivating and procuring wood and of producing pulp (e.g., [59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67]); data availability is limited on the environmental impacts of obtaining lignin and it is heavily case-dependent (e.g., [68,69]). Therefore, for this study, a simplified kraft pulp mill model was built based on the Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for the Production of Pulp, Paper and Board [70].…”

Section: Hotspotting the Background Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Wood to Resin—Identifying Sustainability Levers through Hotspotting Lignin Valorisation Pathways

et al. 2018

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The concept of bioeconomy supports the diversification strategies of forest-based industries to create new value chains and contribute to economic growth and sustainability. The use of side streams or by-products of the pulp and paper industry (PPI) is seen as a promising approach. In line with this, the idea of substituting fossil-based materials and products is frequently discussed. One such example is the use of lignin as a bio-based alternative for fossil-based phenols. Lignin-based products not only have to fulfil identical technical requirements as their fossil-based counterparts, they are also expected to be more sustainable. This study conducts an integrated hotspot analysis of two lignin valorisation pathways during R&D. The analysis considers the provision of technical kraft lignin as a by-product of a state-of-the-art kraft pulp mill, followed by valorisation, either via solvent fractionation or via base-catalysed depolymerisation (BCD), and the final application of the valorised lignins in phenol formaldehyde resins. As a two-step approach, first of all, the environmental hotspots (e.g., energy-intensive process steps) along the valorisation pathways are identified. Secondly, a variation analysis is carried out, which involves the identification of sustainability levers (e.g., selection of solvents). Identifying those levers at an early research stage helps to support the R&D process towards sustainable product development.

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“…Noteworthy, due to environmental concerns, increasing oil prices and the economic problems, many pulp and paper mills have started to look for new ways of recycling and for cost effective methods, including wider usage of renewable sources. By isolating kraft lignin from black liquor, it can be used as a fuel in a lime kiln or be further upgraded as a renewable material ( Figure 1) [2]. In fact, from an economic point of view, kraft lignin is considered to be a sustainable aromatic natural polymer [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catalytic oxidation and conversion of kraft lignin into phenolic products using zeolite‐encapsulated Cu(II) [H₄]salen and [H₂]salen complexes

Zhou

2015

Env Prog and Sustain Energy

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The encapsulated copper (II) tetrahydro-salen and salen complexes were prepared in NaY for oxidation of kraft lignin to obtain phenolic monomer. Structural information obtained by spectroscopies suggested that geometry was correlated to the enhanced chemical behavior of the complexes. Characterization using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry demonstrated that catalyzed reactions of kraft lignin in the presence of CH 3 COOOH produced major products including 2-methoxy phenol, 4-hydroxy benzaldehyde, 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl ethanone. The encapsulation and hydrogenation of complexes could improve reactivity. There was a greater improvement in reactivity for complexes on the immobilization by ship-in-a-bottle method (SB) as compared with by impregnation method, and additionally a methanol fraction in the solvent proved beneficial effect for the product generation over these complexes in the oxidation of kraft lignin. Cu ([H 4 ]salen)/SB was proved to be most active as giving the highest kraft lignin converted per mole metal ion and selectivity.

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Life cycle assessment of kraft lignin for polymer applications

Cited by 53 publications

References 4 publications

Allocation in life cycle assessment of lignin

Allocation in life cycle assessment of lignin

From Wood to Resin—Identifying Sustainability Levers through Hotspotting Lignin Valorisation Pathways

Catalytic oxidation and conversion of kraft lignin into phenolic products using zeolite‐encapsulated Cu(II) [H₄]salen and [H₂]salen complexes

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Life cycle assessment of kraft lignin for polymer applications

Cited by 53 publications

References 4 publications

Allocation in life cycle assessment of lignin

Allocation in life cycle assessment of lignin

From Wood to Resin—Identifying Sustainability Levers through Hotspotting Lignin Valorisation Pathways

Catalytic oxidation and conversion of kraft lignin into phenolic products using zeolite‐encapsulated Cu(II) [H4]salen and [H2]salen complexes

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Product

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Catalytic oxidation and conversion of kraft lignin into phenolic products using zeolite‐encapsulated Cu(II) [H₄]salen and [H₂]salen complexes