This book offers the state of the art on the progress and accomplishments of 25 years of
research at the Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM - Laboratory of Separation and Reaction
Engineering - Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials on lignin conversion to value-added
products and their downstream separation. The first valorisation pathway presented for lignin
is its partial depolymerisation by oxidation for the production of low molecular weight
phenolic compounds such as vanillin and syringaldehyde and the second one is the lignin
application as macromonomer for polyurethane synthesis. In this book the authors present the
integration of these two valorisation pathways as an exclusive vision of LSRE-LCM resulting
from hands-on experience on reaction and separation processes: the integrated process for
lignin valorisation. In this perspective the lignin is oxidized to simultaneously produce
syringaldehyde and vanillin and the obtained by-products to produce a polyol for lignin-based
polyurethanes completing the lignin value chain. On the perspective of pulp mill-related
biorefineries a valorisation route for eucalyptus bark is also presented focusing on LSRE-LCM
experience on extraction and separation of bioactive polyphenols giving some insights about
further integration of extracted bark on biorefining operations.
