In situ amino–lignin production via biomass fractionation for high-efficacy CO2 capture

Ruijie Wu; Caiyun Liu; Yongchao Zhang; Jiayun Xu; Andrey Pranovich; Jarl Hemming; Teija Tirri; Xiaoju Wang; Chunlin Xu

doi:10.1039/D5GC00429B

In situ amino–lignin production via biomass fractionation for high-efficacy CO2 capture

Ruijie Wu, Caiyun Liu, Yongchao Zhang, Jiayun Xu, Andrey Pranovich, Jarl Hemming, Teija Tirri, Xiaoju Wang, Chunlin Xu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

2 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Amine-functionalized solid adsorbents (NFSAs) from green and renewable biomasses have been proven to be a significant breakthrough for utilizing renewable resources in the carbon capture and storage field. Lignin, a major biomass component, is an auspicious biomass-based adsorbent material owing to its rich chemical structure, abundant functional groups, and high stability. Inevitably, the carbon-carbon condensation during technical lignin isolation leads to heterogeneity, which restricts the lignin amination modification in NFSAs. Herein, we present a technology breakthrough in the direct production of aminated lignins with high N-density via the reactive fractionation of biomasses using an aniline-formic acid solvent system. This innovative strategy enabled in situ amination of lignins in high weight percent yields during the acid delignification of different biomasses and holistically produced high-purity cellulose (glucose yield above 95%). Here, aniline acted as a nucleophile to capture Cα carbocations in the lignin structure and selectively directed the condensation towards dominant α-amination, effectively inhibiting the uncontrolled lignin condensation to retain the chemical reactivity of lignin macromolecules. The nanomaterials further derived from these aminated lignin macromolecules offered promising perspectives as bio-based adsorbents for efficient CO ₂ capture. Nanoparticles of amino-lignin in the size range of 339 ± 72 nm derived from the bamboo biomass demonstrated an exceptional adsorption capacity of 324 mg CO ₂ per gram of adsorbent in a wet capture method. Comparison with existing industrial processes has demonstrated that our approach is green and sustainable, with potential commercial value for subsequent industrial applications and large-scale utilization. This proof-of-concept method highlights a significant advancement in carbon capture technologies, utilizing sustainable and biodegradable nanomaterials to address the pressing environmental challenges.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	6764-6775
Journal	Green Chemistry
Volume	27
Issue number	23
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/D5GC00429B
Publication status	Published - 21 Jun 2025
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

We (C. X. and R. W.) would like to acknowledge funding from Business Finland (5855/31/2023). R. W. would also like to acknowledge funding support from the China Scholarship Council (202209370020). C. L. and Y. Z. would like to acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32001269 and No. 32271821), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2021M701287), and Shandong Province High Education Youth Innovation Team Project (2023KJ133). We particularly thank Prof. Ron Zevenhoven and Dr. Jens Back for their guidance on CO2 adsorption. We specially thank Dr. Hao Zhang for coaching in XPS and BET measurements. TEM imaging was processed and analyzed in the Electron Microscopy Laboratory, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, which receives financial support from Biocenter Finland. Parts of the research used Research Council of Finland Research Infrastructure “Printed Intelligence Infrastructure” (PII-FIRI).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1039/D5GC00429BLicence: CC BY

d5gc00429bFinal published version, 5.2 MBLicence: CC BY

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025090894802

Åbo Akademi Functional Printing Center
Toivakka, M. (PI), Rosenholm, J. (PI), Anttu, N. (PI), Bobacka, J. (PI), Huynh, T. P. (PI), Peltonen, J. (PI), Wang, X. (PI), Wilen, C.-E. (PI), Xu, C. (PI), Zhang, H. (PI) & Österbacka, R. (PI)
Faculty of Science and Engineering
Facility/equipment: Facility

Depoly2ols: Tailored polyphenols and polyols from fractionation and depolymerization of biorefinery lignins
Grénman, H. (Principal Investigator), Xu, C. (Co-Principal Investigator) & Eklund, P. C. (Co-Principal Investigator)
Business Finland
01/01/24 → 31/12/26
Project: Industry/Business Finland

Cite this

@article{e3d92687c14d497ba23c82e44d425456,

title = "In situ amino–lignin production via biomass fractionation for high-efficacy CO2 capture",

abstract = "Amine-functionalized solid adsorbents (NFSAs) from green and renewable biomasses have been proven to be a significant breakthrough for utilizing renewable resources in the carbon capture and storage field. Lignin, a major biomass component, is an auspicious biomass-based adsorbent material owing to its rich chemical structure, abundant functional groups, and high stability. Inevitably, the carbon-carbon condensation during technical lignin isolation leads to heterogeneity, which restricts the lignin amination modification in NFSAs. Herein, we present a technology breakthrough in the direct production of aminated lignins with high N-density via the reactive fractionation of biomasses using an aniline-formic acid solvent system. This innovative strategy enabled in situ amination of lignins in high weight percent yields during the acid delignification of different biomasses and holistically produced high-purity cellulose (glucose yield above 95\%). Here, aniline acted as a nucleophile to capture Cα carbocations in the lignin structure and selectively directed the condensation towards dominant α-amination, effectively inhibiting the uncontrolled lignin condensation to retain the chemical reactivity of lignin macromolecules. The nanomaterials further derived from these aminated lignin macromolecules offered promising perspectives as bio-based adsorbents for efficient CO 2 capture. Nanoparticles of amino-lignin in the size range of 339 ± 72 nm derived from the bamboo biomass demonstrated an exceptional adsorption capacity of 324 mg CO 2 per gram of adsorbent in a wet capture method. Comparison with existing industrial processes has demonstrated that our approach is green and sustainable, with potential commercial value for subsequent industrial applications and large-scale utilization. This proof-of-concept method highlights a significant advancement in carbon capture technologies, utilizing sustainable and biodegradable nanomaterials to address the pressing environmental challenges.",

author = "Ruijie Wu and Caiyun Liu and Yongchao Zhang and Jiayun Xu and Andrey Pranovich and Jarl Hemming and Teija Tirri and Xiaoju Wang and Chunlin Xu",

year = "2025",

month = jun,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1039/D5GC00429B",

language = "English",

volume = "27",

pages = "6764--6775",

journal = "Green Chemistry",

issn = "1463-9262",

publisher = "Royal Society of Chemistry",

number = "23",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - In situ amino–lignin production via biomass fractionation for high-efficacy CO2 capture

AU - Wu, Ruijie

AU - Liu, Caiyun

AU - Zhang, Yongchao

AU - Xu, Jiayun

AU - Pranovich, Andrey

AU - Hemming, Jarl

AU - Tirri, Teija

AU - Wang, Xiaoju

AU - Xu, Chunlin

PY - 2025/6/21

Y1 - 2025/6/21

N2 - Amine-functionalized solid adsorbents (NFSAs) from green and renewable biomasses have been proven to be a significant breakthrough for utilizing renewable resources in the carbon capture and storage field. Lignin, a major biomass component, is an auspicious biomass-based adsorbent material owing to its rich chemical structure, abundant functional groups, and high stability. Inevitably, the carbon-carbon condensation during technical lignin isolation leads to heterogeneity, which restricts the lignin amination modification in NFSAs. Herein, we present a technology breakthrough in the direct production of aminated lignins with high N-density via the reactive fractionation of biomasses using an aniline-formic acid solvent system. This innovative strategy enabled in situ amination of lignins in high weight percent yields during the acid delignification of different biomasses and holistically produced high-purity cellulose (glucose yield above 95%). Here, aniline acted as a nucleophile to capture Cα carbocations in the lignin structure and selectively directed the condensation towards dominant α-amination, effectively inhibiting the uncontrolled lignin condensation to retain the chemical reactivity of lignin macromolecules. The nanomaterials further derived from these aminated lignin macromolecules offered promising perspectives as bio-based adsorbents for efficient CO 2 capture. Nanoparticles of amino-lignin in the size range of 339 ± 72 nm derived from the bamboo biomass demonstrated an exceptional adsorption capacity of 324 mg CO 2 per gram of adsorbent in a wet capture method. Comparison with existing industrial processes has demonstrated that our approach is green and sustainable, with potential commercial value for subsequent industrial applications and large-scale utilization. This proof-of-concept method highlights a significant advancement in carbon capture technologies, utilizing sustainable and biodegradable nanomaterials to address the pressing environmental challenges.

AB - Amine-functionalized solid adsorbents (NFSAs) from green and renewable biomasses have been proven to be a significant breakthrough for utilizing renewable resources in the carbon capture and storage field. Lignin, a major biomass component, is an auspicious biomass-based adsorbent material owing to its rich chemical structure, abundant functional groups, and high stability. Inevitably, the carbon-carbon condensation during technical lignin isolation leads to heterogeneity, which restricts the lignin amination modification in NFSAs. Herein, we present a technology breakthrough in the direct production of aminated lignins with high N-density via the reactive fractionation of biomasses using an aniline-formic acid solvent system. This innovative strategy enabled in situ amination of lignins in high weight percent yields during the acid delignification of different biomasses and holistically produced high-purity cellulose (glucose yield above 95%). Here, aniline acted as a nucleophile to capture Cα carbocations in the lignin structure and selectively directed the condensation towards dominant α-amination, effectively inhibiting the uncontrolled lignin condensation to retain the chemical reactivity of lignin macromolecules. The nanomaterials further derived from these aminated lignin macromolecules offered promising perspectives as bio-based adsorbents for efficient CO 2 capture. Nanoparticles of amino-lignin in the size range of 339 ± 72 nm derived from the bamboo biomass demonstrated an exceptional adsorption capacity of 324 mg CO 2 per gram of adsorbent in a wet capture method. Comparison with existing industrial processes has demonstrated that our approach is green and sustainable, with potential commercial value for subsequent industrial applications and large-scale utilization. This proof-of-concept method highlights a significant advancement in carbon capture technologies, utilizing sustainable and biodegradable nanomaterials to address the pressing environmental challenges.

U2 - 10.1039/D5GC00429B

DO - 10.1039/D5GC00429B

M3 - Article

SN - 1463-9262

VL - 27

SP - 6764

EP - 6775

JO - Green Chemistry

JF - Green Chemistry

IS - 23

ER -

In situ amino–lignin production via biomass fractionation for high-efficacy CO2 capture

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Equipment

Åbo Akademi Functional Printing Center

Projects

Depoly2ols: Tailored polyphenols and polyols from fractionation and depolymerization of biorefinery lignins

Cite this