• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.7 no.2_3
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• pp.167-170
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• 2013

Lignin can be a valuable natural chemical resource. Structurally, lignin is a three-dimensional polymer made up of condensed C-C bonds and some ether linkages, most of which are not readily degraded. In this study, lignin carbonization under various electron beam pretreatment conditions was characterized through a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Lignin stabilization was controlled by various doses of electron beam irradiation corresponding to 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 kGy; the carbonization process was performed under a nitrogen gas atmosphere at $1000^{\circ}C$ for 1 h. The TGA results showed that a 1,000 kGy lignin dose increased the residue weight from 39.96% to 45.23%, compared to non-irradiated lignin. This observation is in agreement with the XRD and Raman spectroscopy results, in which the two theta degrees and the degree of crystallization were improved by increasing the electron beam irradiation.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.769-779
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• 2020

This study investigates the selective fractionation of lignin with uniform structures and lower molecular weight. Lignin solubilization was first performed using a solution of acetic acid (AA) and hydrogen peroxide (HP) (4:1, (v/v)) to form peracetic acid (PAA), which is a strong oxidant. After the PAA-induced solubilization that occurred at 80℃, totally soluble lignin was extracted by ethyl acetate (EA) and divided into organic- and water-soluble fractions. The EA fraction was then fractionated by open-column using three solutions (chloroform-ethyl acetate, methanol, and water) sequentially. With an increase in the solvent polarity during the fractionation step, the molecular weight of the lignin-derived compounds in the fraction increased. Remarkably, some lignin fractions did not have aromatic structures. These fractions were identified as carboxylic acid-containing polymers like poly-carboxylates. These results conclude that the selective production of lignin-derived polymers with specific molecular weight and structural characteristics could be possible through open-column fractionation.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.703-719
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• 2017

Miscanthus had a higher lignin content (19.5 wt%) and carbohydrate (67.6 wt%) than other herbaceous crops, resulting in higher pellet strength and positive effect on combustion. However, miscanthus also contains a high amount of hydrophobic waxes on its outer surface, cuticula, which limits the pellet quality. The glass transition of lignin and cuticula were related to forming inter-particle bonding, which determined mechanical properties of pellet. To determine the effects of surface waxes, both on the pelletizing process and the pellet strength were compared with raw and extracted samples through solvent extraction. In addition, to clarify the relationship between pellet process parameters and bonding mechanisms, the particle size and temperature are varied while maintaining the moisture content of the materials and the die pressure at constant values. Furthermore, kraft lignin was employed to determine the effect of kraft lignin as an additive in the pellets. As results, the removal of cuticula through ethanol extractions improved the mechanical properties of the pellet by the formation of strong inter-particle interactions. Interestingly, the presence of lignin in miscanthus improves its mechanical properties and decreases friction against the inner die at temperatures above the glass transition temperature ($T_g$) of lignin. Consequently, it could found that the use of kraft lignin as an additive in pellet reduced friction in the inner die upon reaching its glass transition temperature.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of lignin fractionated from waste wood (WW) using a two-step process of ethanol organosolv pretreatment followed by ultrafiltration with membranes of different molecular weight cut-offs (1, 5 and 20 kDa). The different permeates obtained were characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The analysis by FT-IR and NMR of these lignins showed that the lignin core was successfully separated from WW. TGA curves confirmed that the thermal properties of lignin fractionated by ultrafiltration were almost identical to each other. The results from GPC confirmed that fractionating of lignin was achieved by ultrafiltration. For the membrane fractionation process, values of molecular weight decreased as the cut-offs used to obtain the fractions became smaller. As a result, fractionating lignin by a two-step process allowed separating different fractions of lignin of different molecular weights yielded high purity without interference from existing pollutants in WW. The two-step process offers the possibility of using fractionated WW as an untapped source of lignin.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.201-205
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• 2003

Laccase, lignin- and manganese peroxidase are implicated in the lignin degradation. The nucleotide sequences of four copper-binding domains in fungal laccases, and heme-binding domains of lignin- and manganese peroxidases are well conserved, and therefore these short fragments can be used for the PCR for the gene amplification. We synthesized several PCR primers according to their sequences, and run PCR to amplifiy the lignin degrading genes of Trametes versicolor isolated in Korea. PCR products were cloned with pGEM-T vector in order to determine their nucleotide sequences. A laccase fragment (1.3 kb) showed 65-97％ homologies, lignin peroxidase fragment (185 bp) showed 80-95％ homologies, and manganese peroxidase fragment (443 bp) showed 61-83％ homologies when compared with other white-rot fungal enzymes.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.86-91
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• 2011

Modified lignins were prepared. Soda and peroxy lignins were precipitated from black liquor produced from bagasse pulping with soda and peroxyacid pulping process. The precipitated lignins were hydrolyzed using 10% HCl. Different functional groups were also incorporated into lignin by carboxylation and phosphorylation reactions. Moreover crosslinking of these lignins were carried out using epichlorohydrin. Characterization of the modified lignins and lignins derivative were carried out using Infrared spectroscopy. Thermal analysis of these compounds were also carried out using TGA and DTA techniques. Efficiency of sorption of metal ions by the modified lignin was also investigated. It was found that, the peroxylignin and its derivatives show higher efficiency toward metal ions uptake than the soda lignin.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.249-252
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• 2011

Lignin is one of the natural macromolecules. Every year large amount of lignin arises from the cellulose production as a by-product worldwide. The use of lignin as a precursor to carbonaceous materials has gained interest due to its low cost and high availability. Therefore, we improved the properties of alkali-lignin by exposing to gamma ray in this study. The alkali-lignin is irradiated by Gamma ray irradiation with varying doses. The char yields of alkali-lignin were investigated by increasing up to 50 kGy. The cross-linking and bond scission of alkali-lignin occur simultaneously during gamma ray irradiation. The crosslinking was predominantly accelerated by gamma ray irradiation up to 50 kGy. Bond scission predominantly occurs between 50 and 500 kGy. ESCA analysis indicated that the alcoholic carbon increase up to 50 kGy. Solution viscosity was increased as absorbed dose increased up to 20 kGy. In addition, the aromatic ring was not influenced by irradiation at doses ranging from 20 to 500 kGy as shown in FT-IR results.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.86-94
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• 2011

Pyrolytic lignin was obtained from biooil produced with yellow poplar wood. Fast pyrolysis was performed under various temperature ranges and residence times using fluidized bed type reactor. Several analytical methods were adopted to characterize the structure of pyrolytic lignin as well as the effect of pyrolysis temperature and residence time on the modification of the lignin. The yield of pyrolytic lignin increased as increasing pyrolysis temperature and decreasing residence time of pyrolysis products. The molecular weight of pyrolytic lignin determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) was approximately 1,200 mol/g, which was approximately a tenth of milled wood lignin (MWL) purified from the same woody biomass. Based on analytical data, demethoxylation and side chain cleavage reaction were dominantly occurred during fast pyrolysis.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.64-76
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• 1980

Fig. 8 summarizes the present status of high yield pulp production and the directions of research on modification. A thick line indicates pulping process presently in use. As mentioned previously, one kind of modification is to introduce hydrophilic groups onto the pulp. Still unsolved is whether or not the introduction of hydrophilic groups should be restricted to lignin only. Goring (28) reported that middle lamella lignin has fewer phenolic hydroxyl groups than cell wall lignin and suggested that such a difference in the lignin may be useful in the removal of middle lamella lignin. The introduction of hydrophilic groups onto pulp may not be enough to modify high yield pulp. The removal of some portion of carbohydrate may be also necessary from the standpoint of softening of pulp fibers. There is no information at what lignin and carbohydrate, and how much should be removed. The combination with synthetic high polymers may also be important in modifying high yield pulp. Prof. C. Schuerch of the State University of New York who was a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo in 1974, mentioned that the hydrophilicity of lignin would be promoted, if phenolic hydroxyl or carboxyl groups could be introduced into the aromatic nucleus of lignin. If this were possible. this process would also mean a pulp yield of more than 100%. This idea is just one example of the expectation made possible through lignin chemistry. Instead of the introduction of hydrophilic group, the oxidative degradation of aromatic nucleus of lignin may also be useful in promoting the hydrophilicity of pulp. In this case, ozone may be an excellent chemical. However, there are a lot of problems to be solved such as homogeneity of reaction and selectivity of ozone for lignin. The above ideas are summarized in Fig. 9. There are many problems to be solved in the production of an excellent high yield pulp which is comparable to chemical pulp. The information from wood chemistry hopefully will elucidate some of the problems mentioned above.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.651-665
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• 2020

Hydrolysis of biomass for the production of fermentable sugar can be improved by the addition of surfactants. In pulp and paper mills, lignin, which is a by-product of the pulping process, can be utilized as a fine chemical. In the hydrolysis process, lignin is one of the major inhibitors of the enzymatic breakdown cellulose into sugar monomer. Therefore, the conversion of lignin into a biosurfactant offers the opportunity to solve the waste problem and improve hydrolysis efficiency. In this study, lignin derivatives, a biosurfactant, was applied to enzymatic hydrolysis of various lignocellulosic biomass. This Biosurfactant can be prepared by reacting lignin with a hydrophilic polymer such as polyethylene glycol diglycidylethers (PEDGE). In this study, the effect of biosurfactants on the enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated sweet sorghum bagasse (SSB), oil palm empty fruit bunch, and sugarcane trash with different lignin contents was investigated. The results show that lignin derivatives improve the enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated biomass with low lignin content, however, it has less influence on the enzymatic hydrolysis of other pretreated biomass with lignin content higher than 10% (w/w). The use of biosurfactant on SSB kraft pulp can increase the sugar yield from 45.57% to 81.49%.