Isolation and Purification of Lignin in Willow Wood

Currently increasing amounts of time and energy are spent in search for renewable resources with increasing focus on biomass. Of particular interest is the extraction and chemical ‘reforming’ of the lignin, a naturally occurring abundant organic polymer. If separated from cellulose and depolymerized, lignin could become a rich resource of chemicals. This project focuses on lignin separation from willow wood collected form GVSU agricultural project lot, and its purification. The lignin extracted from wood was analyzed via Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. By comparing the IR results from four different willow wood to available literature data, it was confirmed that lignin was isolated from willow wood and that further purification is required. A quantitative estimate of efficiency of lignin extraction from the four different types of willow wood ranges from 4.50% to 10.82% lignin by mass.