In the production of cellulosic biofuels breaking down lignocellulosic feedstocks into C5 and C6 sugars is a major challenge. In a leap forward that could be a game-changer for understanding how plant biomass can be more efficiently broken down, researchers from the University of California (UC), Riverside, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Central Florida have created a chemical roadmap to disentangle the complex polymer lignin from cellulose and hemicellulose.
Finland – Stora Enso invests €10 million in a pilot plant producing lignin-based materials for energy storage [Registered]
Stora Enso is investing €10 million to build a pilot facility for producing lignin-based materials that form a crucial component in batteries typically used in consumer electronics, the automotive industry and large-scale energy storage systems.
Self-healing elastomer developed from lignin [Full subscriber]
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a stretchy material from lignin that exhibits self-healing behaviour and could be used in adhesives and other industrial applications.
Engineered Novosphingobium aromaticivorans produces high yields of PDC from lignin [Registered]
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have engineered Novosphingobium aromaticivorans, a soil bacteria, to depolymerize lignin into smaller aromatic hydrocarbons.
Researchers develop lignin-based composite for 3D printing process [Registered]
Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have created a new composite material to be used for 3D printing that makes use of lignin and which could spur a profitable new use of lignin.
USA – LignoTech Florida opens US$110 mln lignin plant [Registered]
Rayonier Advanced Materials and Borregaard who jointly own LignoTech Florida opened on 26th June, a new lignin plant in Fernandina Beach. Costing US$110 million, the plant has a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes lignin.
Domtar acquires Prisma Renewables to produce lignin-based composites [Full subscriber]
Montreal-headquartered paper and absorbent hygiene products company Domtar has acquired a majority interest in Prisma Renewable Composites to expand the production of biocomposites.
Lignin-based aerogels [Registered]
Using purified lignin from the lignocellulosic biorefinery at the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes (CBP) in Leuna, Germany, researchers at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg (TU HH) have produced lignin-containing aerogels and processed high-porosity insulating boards with excellent insulation properties.
Discovery and engineering of novel cytochrome P450 enzymes for converting lignin into to chemicals [Registered]
Researchers from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Montana State University, University of Georgia, the University of California at Los Angeles, Brazil’s University of Campinas, and the United Kingdom’s University of Portsmouth.have discovered and characterized a new family of cytochrome P450 enzymes that is critical to improving the conversion of lignin into high value platform chemicals.
Lignin to chemicals facilitated by metabolically engineered E. coli [Full subscriber]
Researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories in California have demonstrated a new technology based on bio-engineered bacteria that can make it economically feasible to produce chemicals from lignin.
Monthly Snapshot
Market overview While the sugar market continues to hobble from glut and low prices, the industry is also distracted by major sugar exporters Brazil, Australia and Guatemala launching formal complaint […]
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