processes Article Structural and Thermal Characterization of Novel Organosolv Lignins from Wood and Herbaceous Sources Anna Trubetskaya 1,*,† , Heiko Lange 2,*,† , Bernd Wittgens 3, Anders Brunsvik 3, Claudia Crestini 4 , Ulrika Rova 5 , Paul Christakopoulos 5, J. J. Leahy 1 and Leonidas Matsakas 5,*,† 1 Bernal Center, University of Limerick, V94 T9PX Castletroy, Ireland;
[email protected] 2 Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples ’Federico II’, 80131 Naples, Italy 3 SINTEF Industry, Richard Birkelands vei 2B, 7034 Trondheim, Norway;
[email protected] (B.W.);
[email protected] (A.B.) 4 Department of Molecular Science and Nanosystems, University of Venice Ca’ Foscari, Via Torino 155, 30170 Venice Mestre, Italy;
[email protected] 5 Biochemical Process Engineering, Division of Chemical Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 97187 Luleå, Sweden;
[email protected] (U.R.);
[email protected] (P.C.) * Correspondence:
[email protected] (A.T.);
[email protected] (H.L.);
[email protected] (L.M.) † These authors contributed equally to this work. Received: 26 June 2020; Accepted: 13 July 2020; Published: 17 July 2020 Abstract: This study demonstrates the effects of structural variations of lignins isolated via an organosolv process from different woody and herbaceous feedstocks on their thermal stability profiles. The organosolv lignins were first analysed for impurities, and structural features were determined using the default set of gel permeation chromatography, FT-IR spectroscopy, quantitative 31P NMR 1 13 spectroscopy and semi-quantitative H- C HSQC analysis. Pyrolysis-, O2- and CO2-reactivity of the organosolv lignins were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and volatile formation in various heating cycles was mapped by head-space GC-MS analysis.