Preparation of flocculant for optimizing glycol lignin manufacturing process by cationization of glycol lignin

• Published in: Journal of wood science 2018-10, Vol.64 (5), p.683-689
• Main Authors: Matsushita, Yasuyuki, Endo, Hiroki, Takahashi, Shiho, Aoki, Dan, Fukushima, Kazuhiko, Yamada, Tatsuhiko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Life Sciences; Materials Science; Original Article; Wood Science & Technology
• ISSN: 1435-0211; 1611-4663
• DOI: 10.1007/s10086-018-1749-1

Glycol lignin possessing thermoplastic and fusible properties can be a biorefinery platform material; however, glycol lignin is obtained as very small particles in suspension and the low dewatering efficiency is a major difficulty for the mass production. To improve the productivity of glycol lignin in the refinery plant, glycol lignin-based flocculants were prepared and their flocculation performance was examined. The flocculants (cationized glycol lignins) were synthesized by a reaction with glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride (GTA) in various reaction conditions. The prepared flocculants exhibited high flocculation performance and successfully economized the production cost of glycol lignin. Their flocculation efficiency was affected by the precipitation temperature, the length of the glycol chain, the molecular weight and the functional group of the glycol lignin. The flocculation behavior was interpreted by phase separation theory at a lower critical solution temperature (LCST).