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Biomass Conversion Lab
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The lab unravels lignin to create new materials from wood.
AboutAbout the lab
Making full use of lignin, the second most abundant polymer on Earth.
The Biomass Conversion Lab works to elucidate the polymerization mechanism and chemical structure of lignin, the component that stiffens wood cell walls.
From woody biomass such as lignin and cellulose, the lab creates sustainable new materials based on organic chemistry and polymer chemistry, and pursues the entire process through to degradation and recycling.
The lab also studies the use of microorganisms for remediating environmental pollution.
Key terms
- Lignin
- A component that stiffens wood cell walls. The second most abundant natural polymer on Earth
- Ionic liquid
- A salt that is liquid even at room temperature. Used to dissolve wood and other materials
- NMR
- A method that uses the properties of atomic nuclei in a strong magnetic field to investigate molecular structure
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies the structure and polymerization mechanism of lignin and the creation of new materials from woody biomass.
*Illustrative imageLignin Polymerization and Chemical Structure
The detailed chemical structure of lignin remains unresolved, which has delayed its effective use. The lab artificially polymerizes lignin monomers to elucidate how polymerization occurs and the detailed chemical structure, including the sequence of its units.
*Illustrative imageCell Wall Analysis Using Ionic Liquids
The lab has established a method to dissolve finely ground wood powder in an ionic liquid solvent without greatly changing the structure of its components, and to analyze all cell wall components by NMR. It also applies this method to plants such as kenaf and bamboo.
*Illustrative imageSynthesis of Artificial Lignin Polymers
The lab has succeeded in synthesizing artificial lignin polymers made only of the main structures of lignin, and uses them as standards for structural analysis and to analyze structural changes during lignin degradation and separation.
*Illustrative imageHigh-Performance Polymers from Woody Biomass
From lignin, cellulose, and other sources, the lab carries out the entire process of molecular design, synthesis, materialization, degradation, and recycling to produce high-performance, highly functional polymer materials derived from biomass.
MembersFaculty
- ProfessorTakao Kishimoto
- Associate ProfessorYukiko Enomoto
- Assistant ProfessorTakahito Watanabe
- Project Assistant ProfessorTakumi Noda
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Lignin” Smokefoot / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Lignin Polymerization and Chemical Structure: “Lignin calcium sulfonate” Senkuchan / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Cell Wall Analysis Using Ionic Liquids: “Cut-away drawing of a wood cell wall” Wiedenhoeft, A. Chapter 3: Structure and function of wood. In Wood handbook: wood as an engineering material General technical report FPL GTR-190, Ross, R., Ed. US Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory: Madison, WI, 2010; pp. 3.1-3.18. / Public domain (cropped)
- Synthesis of Artificial Lignin Polymers: “Otrzymywanie folii poliuretanowej z ligniną” BogdaChemPol / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- High-Performance Polymers from Woody Biomass: “Folia PVA zawierająca 1% ligniny kraft” BogdaChemPol / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Plant Gene Expression Lab): “Lithospermum erythrorhizon (Boraginaceae) ( )” yakovlev.alexey from Moscow, Russia / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Forest Metabolic Chemistry Lab): “Rosa epicuticular wax stoma” Plantsurfer at English Wikipedia / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Material Biology Lab): “Xylem rays” Adree.stem / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Atmospheric Environmental Information Lab): “Air pollution3” Janak Bhatta / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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