Biopolymers in industrial phenolic-resin plant
Contents
- Introduction to Lignin
- Use of Lignin to replace Phenol
Summary
Commercial Production of phenolic resin in which much of the phenol is replaced by lignin done in EUROPE.
Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form important structural materials in the support tissues of vascular plants and some algae. Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidity and do not rot easily. Chemically, kraft lignins are cross-linked phenolic polymers.
Apart from cellulose and chitin, lignin is the most frequently occurring polymer in nature – and the only one to contain many of the aromatic compounds that are normally recovered from mineral oil.
Every year the world produces around 50 million tonnes of lignin as a by-product of the paper industry. The material potential of lignin, which in this case is generated as black liquor, has as yet been very little realised: 98 percent of this material is currently incinerated.
