Impact of the treatment conditions of a formic/acetic acid delignification method on chemical structure and antioxidant activity of beech wood lignin

The interest in lignocellulosic substrates is increasing because they are clearly identified for their high potential of development in energy and value-added molecules production. Indeed lignocellulosic biomass constitutes a promising resource for a sustainable production of organic compounds and biobased products that could progressively replace molecules from the petrochemical industry. Until now lignocellulosic substrates were mainly used for the valorization of cellulose. Hemicelluloses and lignins were less valorized and often degraded after the process. However, due to their phenolic structure, lignins can be valorized in a lot of high-valued applications like vanillin production, replacement of petrochemical polymers, antioxidants for cosmetics and food industry, resins…
In this study, a representative sample of beech wood (Fagus sylvatica L.) was collected in the region of Gaume in Belgium. Beech wood was delignified at atmospheric pressure by an organosolv process using a mixture of formic acid/acetic acid/water. The effect of cooking time and temperature was evaluated on the structure, physico-chemical properties and antioxidant activity of the lignins obtained from the black liquor after treatments.
The structural and physico-chemical characteristics of the lignins were investigated with different tools like infrared spectrometry, thermogravimetric analysis, gel permeation chromatography after acetylation of lignins, NMR 1H, 13C and HSQC. The antioxidant activity was assessed by a spectrophotometric method using the α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH).