UW Scientists Work To Turn Crop Waste Into Replacement For Petroleum Products

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say they’re a step closer toward converting wood and crop waste into useful chemicals, which could be important in efforts to move away from society’s reliance on petroleum products.

Well inside trees and corn stalks is a substance that could be useful to developing more biofuels. The key is a natural substance called lignin, which makes trees and cornstalks more sturdy. In the paper industry, lignin is a waste product and is burned as a low-value fuel at pulp and paper mills.

Shannon Stahl, a UW chemistry professor, said that he and others at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center have found a way to break down lignin into chemicals potentially valuable to the plastics industry.

“Including things, you know, like soda bottles or materials in your car. Kevlar is (used in) bulletproof vests, for example, (which) are made of an aromatic material. They’re called aromatics because they have a nice aroma in many cases,” Stahl said.

Stahl said his team has had success selectively exposing lignin to oxygen, followed by a treatment with a mild acid. If the work continues to go well, lignin could lessen the use of petroleum-based chemicals.

Stahl said that commercial use of the lignin breakdown products could be five to 10 years away.

The UW study is published in the journal Nature.