In Switzerland, EPFL scientists have developed a new, PET-like plastic that is easily made from the non-edible parts of plants. The plastic is tough, heat-resistant, and a good barrier to gases like oxygen, making it a promising candidate for food packaging. Due to its structure, the new plastic can also be chemically recycled and degrade […]
In Washington state, a new artificial enzyme has shown it can chew through lignin, the tough polymer that helps woody plants hold their shape. Lignin also stores tremendous potential for renewable energy and materials. Reporting in the journal Nature Communications, a team of researchers from Washington State University and the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest […]
In Tennessee, a team of researchers working within the Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has discovered a pathway to encourage a type of lignin formation in plants that could make the processing of crops grown for products such as sustainable jet fuels easier and less costly. The researchers focused on […]
While all eyes have been on Ukraine lately, there is some good news that came in from another former USSR republic and neighbor to Ukraine’s north above Belarus and Latvia – Estonia – a NATO country that borders Russia. U.S. based Sweetwater Energy received final acceptance of its first commercial Sunburst unit at the Sweetwoods […]
In Delaware, a team of University of Delaware researchers and collaborators from CanmetENERGY are looking for economically viable ways to upcycle biomass into new products. Take lignin, for example. Lignin is a component of plants and trees that provides strength and stiffness to help the flora stand up to what Mother Nature throws its way. […]
In Louisiana, a new study published in Nature Communications, Louisiana State University researchers reveal how carbohydrates interact with the aromatic polymer lignin to form plant biomass. This new information can help advance the development of better technology to use biomass for energy and materials. The Wang research team examined the nanoscale assembly of lignocellulosic components […]
In Sweden, researchers at Stockholm University have developed a resource-efficient method to produce new lignin-based materials that can be thermally reprocessed and used to substitute thermosetting resins and adhesives. Researchers at Stockholm University have developed a resource-efficient method to produce a material that behaves like thermosets but can be thermally reprocessed. The team used lignin […]
The Olympics in Tokyo just ended and it is slated to be one of the hottest on record with extreme heat and humidity forcing changes to track, tennis and women’s soccer schedules and World Athletics president Sebastien Coe saying “You don’t have to be a devotee of climate change or a denier to know the […]
In Latvia, a project was selected in the frame of HORIZON Europe program for research and innovation that aims to take significant commercialization steps based on the natural wood component lignin, creating industrial technologies for a significant reduction of the share of fossil raw materials in phenol formaldehyde resin, which is currently widely used in […]
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less travelled by.” Robert Frost Let’s say there are 2 roads – one a traditional fossil-fuel based asphalt road and the other a biobased lignin asphalt road. Which one would you take? We know you can make almost anything out of lignin, […]
