Lignin is a promising and abundant coupling product in biorefineries (e.g. paper and textile industry), which in most biorefinery concepts is burned for its energy value. To make biorefineries economically more viable and to reduce the CO₂ footprint, however, a valorization strategy exploiting the high potential of lignin is crucial.

In the project LignoTex, we want to cover the whole process chain from lignin extraction to spinning of lignin-based fibers as well as the application in textiles. A variety of different plants such as woods, grasses, perennial plants and agricultural residues are extracted using the OrganoCat technology adapted and optimized to the different plant materials. The extracted lignins will then be isolated and fractionated by anti-solvent precipitation to reduce impurities and narrow the lignin fraction heterogeneity.

With this project, we hope to implement and demonstrate a viable and value-adding process to apply lignin in textiles, which can be integrated in a more holistic valorization of lignocellulose in biorefinery concepts.

Contacts IBG-2:

Dr. Philipp Grande