Toward Sustainable Materials: From Lignocellulosic Biomass to High-Performance Polymers

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass is an ideal feedstock for the next generation of sustainable, high-performance, polymeric materials. Although lignin is a highly available and low-cost source of natural aromatics, it is commonly burned for heat or disposed of as waste. The use of lignin for new materials introduces both challenges and opportunities with respect to incumbent petrochemical-based compounds. These considerations are derived from two fundamental aspects of lignin: its recalcitrant/heterogeneous nature and aromatic methoxy substituents. This Account highlights four key efforts from the Epps group and collaborators that established innovative methods/processes to synthesize polymers from lignin deconstruction products to unlock application potential, with a particular focus on the polymerization of biobased monomer mixtures, development of structure–property–processing relationships for diverse feedstocks, functional benefits of methoxy substituents, and scalability of lignin deconstruction.

First, lignin-derivable polymethacrylate systems were probed to investigate the polymerization behavior of methacrylate monomers and predict thermomechanical properties of polymers from monomer mixtures. Notably, the glass transition temperatures (T_gs) of lignin-derivable polymethacrylates (∼100–200 °C) were comparable to, or significantly above, those of petroleum-based analogues, such as polystyrene (∼100 °C), and the T_gs of the complex, biobased copolymers could be predicted by the Fox equation prior to biomass deconstruction.

Second, an understanding of structure–property relationships in polymethacrylates was applied to create performance-advantaged pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) using phenolic-rich bio-oil obtained from the reductive catalytic fractionation of poplar wood. The use of actual lignin-derived monomers as the starting material was an important step because it underscored that nanostructure-forming, multiblock polymers could be readily made despite the complexity of real lignin deconstruction products. This work also highlighted that lignin-based phenolics could be used to make colorless/odorless PSAs, without complex separations/purifications, and still perform as well as commercial adhesives.

Third, an intensified reductive catalytic deconstruction (RCD) process was developed to deconstruct lignin at ambient conditions, and the deconstructed products were successfully employed in 3D printing. The reactive distillation-RCD process operated at ambient pressure using a low-volatility and biobased solvent (glycerin) as a hydrogen donor, which reduced capital/operating costs, energy use, and safety hazards associated with conventional RCD. Technoeconomic analysis showed that such optimization could lead to a 60% reduction in cost to make the PSAs described above.

Fourth, lignin-derivable bisguaiacols/bissyringols were explored as potential alternatives to petroleum-derived bisphenol A (BPA) in diamine-cured epoxy resins. A distinguishing feature of the lignin monomers (vs. BPA/bisphenol F [BPF]) was the presence of methoxy groups on the aromatic rings, and these methoxy moieties enabled tuning of application-specific properties, such as T_g, degradation temperature (T_d), and glassy storage modulus (E′), to achieve improved processing and performance. The lignin-derivable thermosets exhibited T_gs above 100 °C, T_ds above 300 °C, and E′s above 2 GPa, all values that were comparable to those of BPA-/BPF-based analogues. Moreover, the methoxy groups on these lignin-derivable compounds sterically hindered hormone receptor binding and could mitigate many of the toxicity concerns associated with BPA/BPF.

This Account concludes with suggestions on future research needed to advance lignin-derived materials as sustainable and performance-advantaged alternatives by leveraging recycling/upcycling strategies and scaling-up/commercializing biomass waste.