Recent advancement in lignin biorefinery: With special focus on enzymatic degradation and valorization

Chong Li; Chao Chen; Xiaofen Wu; Chi-Wing Tsang; Jinhua Mou; Jianbin Yan; Yun Liu; Carol Sze Ki Lin

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121898

Recent advancement in lignin biorefinery: With special focus on enzymatic degradation and valorization

Bioresour Technol. 2019 Nov:291:121898. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121898. Epub 2019 Jul 26.

Authors

Chong Li¹, Chao Chen², Xiaofen Wu³, Chi-Wing Tsang⁴, Jinhua Mou⁵, Jianbin Yan¹, Yun Liu⁶, Carol Sze Ki Lin⁷

Affiliations

¹ Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518120, People's Republic of China.
² BioZone, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E5, Canada.
³ Hunan Institute of Nuclear Agricultural Science and Space Breeding, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha, Hunan 410125, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Faculty of Science and Technology, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁵ School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
⁶ College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, People's Republic of China.
⁷ School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Electronic address: carollin@cityu.edu.hk.

PMID: 31395402
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121898

Abstract

With the intensive development of lignocellulosic biorefineries to produce fuels and chemicals from biomass-derived carbohydrates, lignin was generated at a large quantity every year. Therefore, lignin has received increasing attention as an abundant aromatics resource in terms of research and development efforts for value-added chemicals production. In this review, studies about lignin degradation especially the crucial enzymes involved and the reaction mechanism were substantially discussed, which provided the molecular basis of lignin biodegradation. Then, the latest improvements in lignin valorization by biological methods were summarized and case studies about value-added compounds from lignin were introduced. Afterwards, challenges, opportunities and prospects regarding biorefinery of lignin were presented.

Keywords: Biological conversion; Enzymatic degradation; Lignin; Value-added products.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biomass
Carbohydrates*
Lignin*

Substances

Carbohydrates
Lignin