Recent Advancements in Lignin Valorization, Bioengineering, Catalysis and Biorefining

Abstract

Most of the research studies in the field of lignin valorization has been achieved on lignin from paper and pulp industries. The key merit of utilizing lignin from the facilities is that resources are already centralized, and the costs of transportation to further process are fundamentally less compared to possible sources. Biomass composed of lignin, hemicelluloses, and cellulose (also known as lignocellulosic biomass) is both plentiful and renewable. The three polymer groups may be isolated and chemically transformed to provide a wide variety of bio-generated value-added materials, chemical, and fuels. To maximize the value of the biomass feedstock as a whole, it is best to extract these products via a streamlined, integrated models of pathways concerned with catalytic reactions i.e., bio-refinery. In this article, upstream processing is analyzed in depth, including the phenylpropanoid route, bioengineered lignins, and lignin bioengineering. The last section addresses the difficulties inherent in lignin bioengineering from a technical and practical standpoint.