LIGNITE -LIGNIn based epoxy resins from WasTE by-products.

木质素是一种来源于木质纤维素生物质的廉价生物聚合物，作为材料应用的生物可再生资源具有巨大潜力，目前每年从制浆过程中分离出超过110万公吨木质素，其主要用途是分散剂应用目前，木质素是一种低价值材料，几乎所有的木质素都被燃烧（约5000万吨）以产生能量。这是因为它是一种非均相聚合物，缺乏含有多个官能团的定义的一级结构。这种结构使其不溶于许多常用的工业溶剂，这意味着难以选择性官能化以制备具有限定结构和功能的先进聚合物材料。LIGNATE将建立在最近开发的基于表面活性剂的专利技术基础上，用于将市售木质素转化为反应性“环氧”木质素基聚合物，该聚合物可以潜在地与一系列“客体”分子衍生化，以提供具有受控特性的木质素基材料。

Lignin is an inexpensive biopolymer derived from ligno-cellulosic biomass that has great potential as a biorenewable resource for materials applications, with over 1.1 million metric tonnes currently isolated annually from the pulping processes with the main use are a dispersant applications (~67.5%) and binder/adhesive applications (~32.5%).Presently, lignin is a low value material, with almost all lignin being burned (~50 million tonnes) to generate energy. This is due to it being is a non-heterogeneous polymer that lacks a defined primary structure which contains multiple functional groups. This structure renders it insoluble in many commonly employed industrial solvents which means it is difficult to selectively functionalise to prepare advanced polymeric materials with defined structure and function. LIGNATE will build upon recently developed patented surfactant based technology for the conversion of commercially available lignin into a reactive 'epoxy'-lignin based polymer that can potentially be derivatised with a range of 'guest' molecules to afford lignin based materials with controlled properties.