Industrial Commercial Lignins: Sources, Properties and Applications

This chapter reviews the interest of industrial lignins as materials, rather than fuels. It examines the different industrial technologies related to pulp manufacture in terms of the delignification process and, more importantly, the properties of the corresponding isolated lignins. Sulfite, kraft, and soda lignins are therefore reviewed with an emphasis on their structural differences and hence their different domains of applications, including the unique polyelectrolyte features associated with lignosulphonates. Novel emerging technologies related to biomass conversion are also critically discussed, in particular steam explosion and organosolv pulping, with the purpose of illustrating the types of lignins produced and their potential usage.