Chapter 7: Lignin as Feedstock for Fibers and Chemicals

Valorization of lignin is a significant contributor to the overall economic viability of a biorefinery. The paper industry adage that “you can make anything out of lignin except money” is rapidly falling by the wayside. Tremendous strides have been made to understand and effectively depolymerize or otherwise modify lignin's structure while avoiding condensation. Heterogeneous catalysts and enzyme systems have proven capable of efficient conversion of lignin into a variety of adhesives, pigments, solvents, modifiers, and other fine chemicals. Advances in graft copolymerization and viscosity modifiers have rapidly expanded the number of lignins capable of being melted or electrospun into carbon nanofibers, or used as polymer additives to modify strength. Few of these technologies are at the commercialization stage, but exciting and promising developments are being made, many of which are summarized in this chapter.