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Lignin: Structure, Properties, and Application in Composite Materials and Chemicals

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2023) | Viewed by 4387

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: lignocellulosic biomass; lignin isolation; pretreatment; lignin based functional materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: lignocellulose; biomass pretreatment; cellulose solvent; lignin chemistry; composite paper; biopolymer; biochemicals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the most promising feedstocks for the production of fuels, chemicals, and materials as an alternative to fossil resources due to its abundance, renewability, biodegradability, and cost efficiency. The use of such an eco-friendly lignocellulosic biomass and its chemical components (cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin) in modern-day scenarios is continuing to increase.

Lignin, an aromatic plant polymer, along with its associated compounds, such as lignin–carbohydrate complex compounds (LCCs) and lignin–tricin compounds, is one of the most appealing renewable material precursors for materials, phenolic compounds, and fuels, which can be used as sensors, photocatalysts, biomedical systems, etc. However, due to its complex structure and heterogeneity, high value-added valorization of lignin is still challenging. Several concerns must be addressed in lignin application. Firstly, the influence of biomass sources and isolation processes on lignin amount, structure, and properties should be uncovered. As is well known, the structure of lignin can easily be changed or modified during isolation procedures. How to isolate lignin from biomass sources with uniform and high purity is important to benchmarking their performance. Secondly, basic structure–property relationships in lignin-based materials or lignin-derived chemicals need to be discussed toward high-performance applications. It is noted that although many lignin-based materials or chemicals have been developed, certain properties, such as mechanical strength/monomer yields, are far from satisfactory. Thirdly, the exploitation of lignin for the large-scale production of chemicals and materials is attractive but difficult to achieve.

Therefore, this Special Issue welcomes experimental studies and excellent in-depth reviews focusing their attention on isolating high-purity and uniform lignin and making new materials and chemicals from lignin and its associated compounds for the benefit of society. Topics include isolation/fractionation and characterization of lignin streams derived from new treatment; lignin structure–property relationships of composite materials and chemicals; potential large-scale applications of lignin, such as lignin-based adhesives used for the production of eco-friendly wood composite materials; other composites from lignin associated compounds.

Dr. Tingting You
Prof. Dr. Feng Xu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • lignin and its associated compounds
  • isolation and fractionation
  • composite materials
  • chemicals
  • structure–property relationship
  • potential large-scale applications

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 7726 KiB  
Article
3D-Printed Polylactic Acid/Lignin Films with Great Mechanical Properties and Tunable Functionalities towards Superior UV-Shielding, Haze, and Antioxidant Properties
by Haichuan Ye, Yuan He, Haichao Li, Tingting You and Feng Xu
Polymers 2023, 15(13), 2806; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15132806 - 24 Jun 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1568
Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is regarded as a novel technique to realize the customized production of films. However, the relative lack of printable materials with excellent mechanical properties and tailored functionalities seriously restricts its wide application. Herein, a promising multifunctional 3D printing filament was [...] Read more.
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is regarded as a novel technique to realize the customized production of films. However, the relative lack of printable materials with excellent mechanical properties and tailored functionalities seriously restricts its wide application. Herein, a promising multifunctional 3D printing filament was fabricated by incorporating lignin into the polylactic acid (PLA) matrix and firstly applied to film production. The results indicate that lignin was an excellent mechanical reinforcement of the PLA matrix, especially for toughening. Only 0.5% lignin doping improved the toughness by 81.8%. Additionally, 3D-printed films with 0.5–5% lignin exhibited excellent ultraviolet (UV)-blocking capability of 87.4–99.9% for UVB and 65.6–99.8% for UVA, as well as remarkable antioxidant properties, ranging from 24.0% to 79.0%, and high levels of haze, ranging from 63.5% to 92.5%. Moreover, the prepared PLA/lignin (P/L) films based on 3D printing achieved the customization of film production and have potential applications in the fields of packaging, electronic products, medical care, and so forth. Overall, this work not only enriches the 3D printing composites with tailored multifunctionality but also brings the promising potential for the production of customized films. Full article
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15 pages, 4229 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Starch/Lignin Nanoparticle Composites Biofilms for Food Packaging Applications
by Xunwen Sun, Qingye Li, Hejun Wu, Zehang Zhou, Shiyi Feng, Pengcheng Deng, Huawei Zou, Dong Tian and Canhui Lu
Polymers 2023, 15(8), 1959; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15081959 - 20 Apr 2023
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4499
Abstract
Construction of sustainable composite biofilms from natural biopolymers are greatly promising for advanced packaging applications due to their biodegradable, biocompatible, and renewable properties. In this work, sustainable advanced food packaging films are developed by incorporating lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) as green nanofillers to starch [...] Read more.
Construction of sustainable composite biofilms from natural biopolymers are greatly promising for advanced packaging applications due to their biodegradable, biocompatible, and renewable properties. In this work, sustainable advanced food packaging films are developed by incorporating lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) as green nanofillers to starch films. This seamless combination of bio-nanofiller with biopolymer matrix is enabled by the uniform size of nanofillers and the strong interfacial hydrogen bonding. As a result, the as-prepared biocomposites exhibit enhanced mechanical properties, thermal stability, and antioxidant activity. Moreover, they also present outstanding ultraviolet (UV) irradiation shielding performance. As a proof of concept in the application of food packaging, we evaluate the effect of composite films on delaying oxidative deterioration of soybean oil. The results indicate our composite film could significantly decrease peroxide value (POV), saponification value (SV), and acid value (AV) to delay oxidation of soybean oil during storage. Overall, this work provides a simple and effective method for the preparation of starch-based films with enhanced antioxidant and barrier properties for advanced food packaging applications. Full article
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11 pages, 2020 KiB  
Article
Comparison of the Degradation Performance of Seven Different Choline Chloride-Based DES Systems on Alkaline Lignin
by Penghui Li, Yuan Lu, Xiaoyu Li, Jianpeng Ren, Zhengwei Jiang, Bo Jiang and Wenjuan Wu
Polymers 2022, 14(23), 5100; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14235100 - 24 Nov 2022
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 2681
Abstract
Lignin is a natural polymer second only to cellulose in natural reserves, whose structure is an aromatic macromolecule composed of benzene propane monomers connected by chemical bonds such as carbon–carbon bonds and ether bonds. Degradation is one of the ways to achieve the [...] Read more.
Lignin is a natural polymer second only to cellulose in natural reserves, whose structure is an aromatic macromolecule composed of benzene propane monomers connected by chemical bonds such as carbon–carbon bonds and ether bonds. Degradation is one of the ways to achieve the high-value conversion of lignin, among which the heating degradation of lignin by deep eutectic solvent (DES) can be an excellent green degradation method. In this study, choline chloride (CC) was used as the hydrogen bond acceptor, and urea (UR), ethylene glycol (GC), glycerol (GE), acetic acid (AA), formic and acetic mixed acid (MA), oxalic acid (OX), and p-toluenesulfonic acid (TA) were used as hydrogen bond donors to degrade lignin. NMR hydrogen spectroscopy was used for the simple and rapid determination of phenolic hydroxyl groups in lignin. FT-IR spectroscopy was used to characterize the changes of functional groups of lignin during DES treatment. GPC observed the molecular weight of lignin after degradation and found a significant increase in the homogeneity (1.6–2.0) and a significant decrease in the molecular weight Mw (2478–4330) of the regenerated lignin. It was found that acidic DES was more effective in depolymerizing alkaline lignin, especially for the toluene–choline chloride. Seven DES solutions were recovered, and it was found that the recovery of DES still reached more than 80% at the first recovery. Full article
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