MALIGNE

Winner of the 2024 call for projects.

Lignin is the second most abundant organic biopolymer on earth and ~60 million tons are produced annually as a waste by-product of the pulp and paper industry. Only 2% is used commercially, the rest is burned to produce steam.

Potentially high-value products from lignin could include low-cost carbon fibers, polymers, and a range of chemicals for the paint, cosmetics, packaging, construction, and transport industries, representing a market of more than 10 billion by 2030.

However, its complexity and water-insolubility necessitate its solubilization to reduce processing costs and environmental impact. While physical, biological, and chemical methods have addressed some solubility challenges, enzymatic modification offers new perspectives.

A sustainable, non-toxic, organic solvent-free technology to enzymatically solubilize lignin at neutral or basic pH using a new multi-copper oxidase enzyme has recently been developed. It has already been shown in first lab-scale preliminary experiments that this solubilized lignin is promising for the development of lignin fibers. We have also shown its unique anti-UV properties. However, we do not yet know in detail the mechanisms of enzymatic solubilization, or those conferring anti-UV properties, as we are currently limited by the amount of enzymes we can produce to process enough lignin to carry out such studies.

MALIGNE project aims to:

• Improve the production of the enzyme and understand its mechanisms for lignin solubilization and applications.
• Use AI-assisted microfluidic screening to identify improved variants, and molecular analysis to unlock lignin's potential for sustainable products like carbon fibers and cosmetics while evaluating the sustainability and the socio-economic impact of such a process.
   

Project lifetime:
 

2024 - 2029

Scientific manager:
 

Nicolas Mano (CNRS)