LIgnofact - High performance surfactants from lignin

表面活性剂是具有亲水性（亲水）和疏水性（憎水）区域的化学物质，这使得它们在混合油和水、稳定泡沫和去除表面和衣物上的污垢方面非常有用。因此，表面活性剂被广泛应用于各种工业部门和产品，包括洗衣剂和清洁、个人护理（洗发水、洗手液和沐浴液）、植物保护、油漆和涂料以及制药中的乳化剂。目前可用的大多数表面活性剂基本上都来自化石碳。为了减少温室气体排放，到2050年实现净零排放（英国净零战略），需要避免使用化石碳。生物基表面活性剂可能是另一种选择，但目前可用的生物基表面活性剂功能有限，而且通常比化石基表面活性剂贵3到5倍。然而，客户和消费者要求可持续的生物基成分，现在确实需要高功能的生物基表面活性剂，用于洗衣剂等应用。该项目将展示基于木质生物质木质素的新型生物基表面活性剂的潜力，以取代化石来源的表面活性剂。首先，从生物质中提取木质素。然后它将被解聚成它的组成亚基，最后它将通过添加油性疏水剂转化为表面活性剂。将探讨所得表面活性剂的性能及其在洗衣液中的应用潜力。Lignofact项目的成功将加强英国可再生能源经济，不仅提供令人兴奋的新型表面活性剂，而且还提供训练有素的生物质利用专家，以帮助推动英国工业中可再生碳和可持续生物质的研究。

Surfactants are chemicals with both hydrophilic (water loving) and hydrophobic (water hating) regions, which makes them extremely useful for mixing oils and water, stabilising foams and removing dirt from surfaces and laundry. As a result, surfactants are used across a broad array of industrial sectors and products, including laundry detergents and cleaning, personal care (shampoos, hand and body wash liquids), plant protection, in paints and coatings and as emulsifiers in pharmaceuticals. Most of the surfactants available today are substantially derived from fossil carbon. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve Net Zero by 2050 (UK Net Zero Strategy), the use of fossil carbon needs to be avoided. Biobased surfactants could be an alternative but those that are currently available have limited functionality and are typically 3 to 5 times more expensive that fossil-based surfactants. However, customers and consumers are demanding sustainable biobased ingredients and there is a real need now for highly functional, biobased surfactants for applications such as laundry detergents.This project will demonstrate the potential for novel biobased surfactants, based on lignin from woody biomass, to replace fossil-derived surfactants. First, the lignin will be extracted from the biomass. Then it will be depolymerised into its constituent subunits and finally it will be converted to a surfactant through addition of an oily hydrophobe. The properties of the resultant surfactant and its potential for use in laundry detergents will be explored. The success of our project, Lignofact, will strengthen the UK renewables economy and deliver not only an exciting new surfactant but highly trained experts in biomass use to help drive the research in renewable carbon and sustainable biomass in UK industry.