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Conversion of Lignin into Fuel and Chemicals

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A4: Bio-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 July 2020) | Viewed by 5436

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
Interests: technical lignin; fine chemicals; specialty chemicals; bulk chemicals; fuels; thermochemical; enzymatic; whole cell

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite submissions to a Special Issue of the journal Energies on the topic of “Conversion of Lignin into Fuel and Chemicals”

Lignin is an underutilized resource in the world, where this second most common biopolymer is rarely used. The by far most common use today is in heat production, mainly in paper and pulp mills, where the steam generated is used for drying and power production. Some lignin is finding its way into uses such as flow enhancers in concrete and for the production of synthetic flavors. However, this one-of-a-kind bulk source of natural aromatics should be better utilized.

To address these issues, it is necessary to further the understanding of the depolymerization of various technical lignins from macromolecules into monomers, dimers, and oligomers under different conditions, as well as the further reaction of these molecules for producing chemicals, likely with but not limited to aromatic moieties. The lignin fractions may also be upgraded to fuels with different boiling point ranges and properties, e.g., aviation kerosene, gasoline, and diesel. This conversion into chemicals and fuels may be done under oxidizing or reducing conditions and using thermochemical, enzymatic as well as whole-cell for the conversion.

This Special Issue would like to encourage original contributions regarding recent developments and ideas in chemical and biological conversion of lignin species. Potential topics include but are not limited to: Depolymerization of lignin, conversion of lignin using oxidative or reductive means, sub- or supercritical conversion of lignin, and the use of enzymatic or whole-cell conversion of lignin into bulk, fine or specialty chemicals as well as fuel additives and fuels.

Dr. Christian Per Hulteberg
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 1407 KiB  
Article
Characterization of Fast Pyrolysis Bio-Oil from Hardwood and Softwood Lignin
by Zahra Echresh Zadeh, Ali Abdulkhani and Basudeb Saha
Energies 2020, 13(4), 887; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13040887 - 17 Feb 2020
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4986
Abstract
The depletion of fossil fuel reserves and the increase of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission have led to moving towards alternative, renewable, and sustainable energy sources. Lignin is one of the significant, renewable and sustainable energy sources of biomass and pyrolysis is one of [...] Read more.
The depletion of fossil fuel reserves and the increase of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission have led to moving towards alternative, renewable, and sustainable energy sources. Lignin is one of the significant, renewable and sustainable energy sources of biomass and pyrolysis is one of the most promising technologies that can convert lignocellulosic biomass to bio-oil. This study focuses on the production and characterization of bio-oil from hardwood and softwood lignin via pyrolysis process using a bench-scale batch reactor. In this study, a mixed solvent extraction method with different polarities was developed to fractionate different components of bio-crude oil into three fractions. The obtained fractions were characterized by using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GCMS). The calculated bio-oil yields from Sigma Kraft lignin and Chouka Kraft lignin were about 30.2% and 24.4%, respectively. The organic solvents, e.g., toluene, methanol, and water were evaluated for chemical extraction from bio-oil, and it was found that the efficiency of solvents is as follows: water > methanol > toluene. In both types of the bio-oil samples, phenolic compounds were found to be the most abundant chemical groups which include phenol, 2-methoxy, 2-methoxy-6-methylphenol and phenol, 4-ethyl-2-methoxy that is due to the structure and the originality of lignin, which is composed of phenyl propane units with one or two methoxy groups (O-CH3) on the aromatic ring. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conversion of Lignin into Fuel and Chemicals)
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