Plant biomass is about 1/3 lignin, so if we hope to make millions of gallons of biofuels out of plants, being able to use the lignin would be a *huge* advantage. Actually, instead of just burning it, you'd probably want to use it as precursor for phenolic plastics or other bioproducts - much more valuable that way.
Unfortunately, lignin utilization has proven to be a very challenging problem. Nobody so far has managed to do anything truly valuable with lignin, and not for a lack of trying!
As the saying goes in the industry, "you can make anything with lignin, except for money"...
Patrik
On Saturday, May 25, 2013 9:30:06 PM UTC-7, Nathan McCorkle wrote:
Would vanillin make a good fuel? It would smell awesome if it spilled--
out a bit at the fuel pump.
On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 4:15 PM, Patrik D'haeseleer <pat...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yeah, it's mainly vanillin. Vanillin is actually a common degradation
> product of the phenolic compounds in lignin. If anything, I'm surprised
> there aren't more woody plants that smell like it.
>
> Next time you happen to visit a winery that has freshly toasted oak barrels,
> have a sniff: vanilla! That's where those vanilla overtones in some aged
> wines (or brandy, or tequila) come from.
>
> Actually, there are a number of other aroma compounds that are offshoots of
> the lignin biosynthesis or modification pathways. Wikipedia has a
> surprisingly good page on aroma compounds that could be pursued for
> DIYbiosynthesis:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aroma_compounds#Aromatic
>
> Patrik
>
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