An object of the present invention is to provide cellulose acetate that has excellent compatibility with a resin, can reinforce a resin, and has excellent thermal stability. An embodiment of the present invention is cellulose acetate having a cellulose triacetate I crystal structure, wherein a temperature at which a weight loss relative to weight at 100° C. reaches 5% is 200° C. or higher when the cellulose acetate is heated at a heating rate of 10° C./min under a nitrogen atmosphere.

A method of fractionating lignocellulosic biomass includes fractionating lignocellulos biomass in an aqueous phenol-4-sulfonic acid (PSA). The process may provide complete or nearly complete fractionation under mild conditions.

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for treating plant based raw material with an enzymatic hydrolysis, in which the plant based raw material (1) is treated to form lignocellulosic material (3a,3b) and the lignocellulosic material (3a,3b) or its fraction (10) is conducted into the enzymatic hydrolysis (4), wherein the method comprises at least one treatment stage (2a,2b,2c) in which the plant based raw material (1) is treated so that the lignocellulosic material (3a,3b) contains over 80% fine solid particles which are fiber-like or indefinable particles smaller than 0.2 mm, defined by an optical measurement device, the lignocellulosic material (3a,3b) or at least one fraction (10) of the lignocellulosic material is supplied into the enzymatic hydrolysis (4) for forming a lignin based material (5), and at least one solid-liquid separation stage (6) after the enzymatic hydrolysis (4) in which a lignin fraction (7) and a soluble carbohydrate containing fraction (8) are separated. Further, the invention relates to the soluble carbohydrate containing fraction, the lignin fraction, the lignin based material, the liquid fraction and the solid fraction, and their uses.

The disclosure relates to adhesive compositions, including non-crosslinked resins and crosslinked/cured adhesives joining substrates, as well as related methods for making the compositions and articles. Compared to a conventional phenol (P) and formaldehyde (F) resin, the disclosed methods and compositions use lignin (L) and higher aldehydes (A) as corresponding replacements to provide an analog to a conventional PF resin with biobased reactants. Due to the differing reactivity of the LA components compared to the PF components, the initial condensation reaction between ortho-reactive sites in the lignin and the aldehyde is controlled to prevent gelation of the aqueous reaction mixture while reacting substantially all of the LA reactants to provide a non-crosslinked resin reaction product. The resin reaction product can then be cured at high temperature/high pressure conditions to provide a crosslinked adhesive, for example joining two substrates.

This document provides hemp fiber biocomposites and methods and materials for making and using hemp fiber biocomposites. For example, hemp fiber biocomposites that can be used as a hydroponic growth medium are provided. Methods for making hemp fiber biocomposites also are provided.

A process for the production of a liquid lignin composition, in particular to a method for obtaining a lignin composition using a compressed gas and acid assisted process, wherein a lignocellulosic biomass feedstock is treated with a polar organic solvent using an inorganic acid to assist in the release of lignin into the polar organic solvent and the use of compressed gas to keep the polar organic solvent in its liquid phase.

Lignocellulosic biomass can be fractionated for the purpose of increasing cellulose purity in the pulp, increasing native lignin content of the isolated lignin, and improving cellulose hydrolysis, by performing the steps of: (a) extracting the biomass with an extracting liquid comprising at least 20 wt % of a first organic solvent at a temperature below 100° C.; (b) treating the extracted biomass with a treatment liquid comprising a second organic solvent selected from lower alcohols, ethers and ketones, optionally water and optionally an acid, at a temperature between 120° C. and 280° C., and, optionally: (c) subjecting a cellulose-enriched product stream resulting from step (b) to enzymatic hydrolysis. The first and second organic solvent may be different or the same; in particular they comprise ethanol or acetone.

A lignin dispersion composition comprising spherical lignin particles dispersed in an aqueous medium, wherein the spherical lignin particles have a size exclusively within a range of 100 nm to 5 microns. Also described herein is a method of producing the lignin dispersion, by: (i) dissolving lignin in an organic solvent substantially devoid of water yet miscible with water to result in a solution of the lignin in the organic solvent; and (ii) producing the lignin dispersion by dialyzing the solution of the lignin with water until substantially all of the organic solvent is replaced with water with simultaneous formation of spherical lignin particles dispersed in the water. Also described herein is a method for stabilizing an emulsion by intimately mixing the emulsion with the lignin dispersion. Also described herein is a hierarchical assembly of porous microparticles produced by mixing the lignin dispersion with an emulsion and an amphiphilic block copolymer.

A method for producing a modified lignin, including reacting one or more kind of a second generation ethanol fermentation residue and a second generation ethanol saccharification residue, with a phenol compound, a modified lignin having a ratio ((2H+G)/S) of a total of twice of a relative existence ratio H (%) of an H-type skeleton and a relative existence ratio G (%) of a G-type skeleton with respect to a relative existence ratio S (%) of an S-type skeleton, obtained from integrated values measured by .sup.31P-NMR, of 2.5 or more, and an existence ratio of an aliphatic hydroxy group obtained by the same method of less than 20%, and a modified lignin-containing resin composition material.

Provided is a solvent borne fertilizer composition. The fertilizer composition includes a low molecular weight lignin in an amount of 5 or about 5 to 25 or about 25 weight percent solids, a carbohydrate in an amount of 1 or about 1 to 20 or about 20 weight percent solids, wherein the lignin and carbohydrate form a lignin-carbohydrate mixture; and a urea moiety bonded to the lignin-carbohydrate mixture.