Publications related to Formaldehyde stabilization facilitates lignin monomer production during biomass depolymerization

Development of Sustainable Carbohydrate-Based Solvents by Acetal Functionalisation of Biomass

Organic solvents are ubiquitous in industrial and domestic applications from the production of pharmaceuticals to household consumer products. The negative impact of most traditional solvents, especially aprotic types, on the environment, health, and safet ...

EPFL2024

New Polymers from Biomass-Derived Hydroxycinnamic Acid Derivatives

Ghezae Tekleab

Polymers play a central role in shaping our world across various fields, but their heavy reliance on petrochemicals poses climate change, environmental and health risks. To address and alleviate these issues, transitioning to sustainable polymers, sourced ...

EPFL2024

Decarbonizing the fertilizers sector: an alternative pathway for urea and nitric acid production

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

In order to alleviate the environmental impact that nitrogen fertilizers production is responsible for, several efforts have been addressed to incentivize the partial or total decarbonization of the supply chains of ammonia and its derivatives. The decarbo ...

2024

Selecting Suitable Near-Native Lignins for Research

Jeremy Luterbacher

There are several methods to isolate near-native lignins, including milled-wood lignin, enzymatic lignin, cellulolytic enzyme lignin, and enzymatic mild-acidolysis lignin. Which one is the most representative of the native lignin? Herein, near-native ligni ...

Amer Chemical Soc2023

Direct conversion of lignin to functionalized diaryl ethers via oxidative cross-coupling

Paul Joseph Dyson, Mingyang Liu

Efficient valorization of lignin, a sustainable source of functionalized aromatic products, would reduce dependence on fossil-derived feedstocks. Oxidative depolymerization is frequently applied to lignin to generate phenolic mono- mers. However, due to th ...

Nature Research2023

Integrated production of urea and nitric acid in the pulp industry: techno-economic and environmental analysis of black liquor gasification-based processes

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Shivom Sharma, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

The pursuit of alternative energy sources for the nitrogen fertilizers sector has recently earned renewed interest due to increasing concerns regarding the world dependence on non-renewable energy resources and also motivated by the more stringent environm ...

2022

Lignin Hydrogenolysis: Phenolic Monomers from Lignin and Associated Phenolates across Plant Clades

Jeremy Luterbacher, Yuan Li

The chemical complexity of lignin remains a major challengeforlignin valorization into commodity and fine chemicals. A knowledgeof the lignin features that favor its valorization and which plantsproduce such lignins can be used in plant selection or to eng ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

Investigation of Biomass Hydrothermal Conversion Products by HRMS

Daniil Salionov

The dependency on fossil fuels and their impact on the environment is a matter of great concern for the future sustainability of modern society. The development of the "green" technologies which utilize renewable energy sources is now under investigation. ...

EPFL2023

Lignin, from biomass waste to sustainable materials for food packaging, antiviral coatings and agriculture

Alice Boarino

Our planet has been challenged for years by our reckless use of fossil fuels, which has led to the ongoing climate change and energy crisis. The transition to the use of renewable alternative sources has now became urgent and inevitable. The valorization o ...

EPFL2023

Extraction and controlled functionalization of lignin for materials applications

Stefania Bertella

Lignin is a renewable aromatic polymer that due to its abundance and unique chemical structure is a promising candidate to replace aromatic materials that are currently sourced from fossil oil. The same structure of lignin poses however drawbacks for its v ...

EPFL2022