Lignin-Polyethylene Composite Materials: Production Process Optimization and Performance Evaluation

该Engage应用程序旨在建立Domtar公司和concordia大学的叶博士之间的研究合作伙伴关系，以开发木质素-聚乙烯复合材料。木质素是仅次于纤维素的第二丰富的生物聚合物。工业木质素是制浆厂和生物精炼厂的副产品，大部分木质素在回收锅炉中作为低价值燃料燃烧。鉴于其天然丰富度和低成本，木质素是现有纸浆和造纸基地及其森林供应链开发新的增值生物基产品的关键平台材料。已经确定了这种材料的许多潜在增值应用和增值技术，但迄今为止几乎没有商业化。Domtar公司是全球领先的分离木质素生产和销售企业，在将粗木质素粉末通过挤压转化为干燥木质素颗粒，并将其用于木质素-热塑性复合材料的生产方面取得了良好的进展。然而，为了实现大规模的商业化生产，仍有一些挑战需要解决，包括优化现有的木质素挤压工艺，复合材料的脱臭，以及木质素基复合颗粒的性能。这个Engage项目旨在通过我们的合作研究努力解决Domtar的具体挑战。这项研究的成功有望扩大木质素的利用，从而产生具有商业开发潜力的高价值产品。

This Engage application aims at establishing a research partnership between Domtar Inc. and Dr. Ye atConcordia University to develop lignin-polyethylene composite materials. Lignin is the second most abundantbiopolymer after cellulose. Industrial lignin is produced as a by-product of pulping mills and bio-refineries andthe majority of lignin is burned as a low value fuel in the recovery boilers. Given its natural abundance and lowcost, lignin is a key platform material for the development of new value-added, bio-based products fromexisting pulp and paper manufacturing sites and their forest based supply chains. Numerous potentialvalue-added applications and valorization technologies for this material have been identified but few if anyhave been commercialized to date. Domtar, as a world leader in the development and commercialization ofisolated kraft lignin manufacture and marketing, has made good progress on converting crude lignin powderinto dried lignin pellets by extrusion and has used them to make lignin-thermoplastic compound materials.However there are still several challenges that need to be addressed, including optimization of the existinglignin extrusion process, de-odoring of the composites, and the performance properties of the lignin-basedcomposite pellets, in order for the large-scale commercial production. This Engage project is aimed ataddressing Domtar's specific challenges through our collaborative research efforts. The success of this researchis expected to expand the utilization of lignin, leading to high-value products having the potential forcommercial exploitation.