Wood or lignocellulosic biomass more generally, is a readily available renewable resource, offering sustainable solutions for our growing human population. The core wood polymers - cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin - serve as fundamental components, extending beyond paper production to produce valuable wood sugars, textile fibers, thermoplastics, and fine chemicals. In our project, we are developing enzyme technologies utilizing extremophilic microbe-derived enzymes to break down and modify lignin, remove toxic phenolic compounds, convert cellulose into wood sugars, and advance enzyme-catalyzed cellulose technologies. Additionally, the project focuses on advancing technologies for converting kraft, hydrolysis (and organosolv) and synthetic lignins into porous materials, thermoplastics, and cutting-edge catalysts.
Estonia's significant mineral resource, peat, is currently mainly extracted and exported as growth substrates for European agriculture. We offer technological solutions to produce high-value materials from by-products/residue of peat production. We are exploring two different experimental chemical valorization directions for peat. Firstly, the production of carbon nanomaterials (carbon nanoparticles, carbon quantum dots CQD), which have a wide range of applications from biomedicine to optics and electronic components. Examples: bioimaging applications, portable sensors, solar panel components etc. The application of CQDs is rapidly developing and new start-up ideas appear often. Secondly, the production of chemically modified biopolymers as high-performance alternatives to petroleum-derived products such as construction panels, packaging containers or conventional adsorbent materials. The resulting products contribute to long-term carbon sequestration, helping to balance the carbon footprint of the peat industry.
Wood is the most abundant form of biomass used by industry and is the source of the three major biolpolymers in nature – cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. While cellulose is responsible for about 40-50% of the dry weight of wood, lignin content varies from 10% to about 35% across species. For decades, lignin has been seen as a bothersome side-product that needs removal at all cost. However, in the last decade, due to its polyphenolic nature, lignin has emerged to the focus of attention as a renewable alternative to crude oil based chemistry. The project aims to develop technologies for the extaction and fractionation of lignin and cellulose derived from low valorization level bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp or industrial wood-waste. The goal of the project is to develop practical and environmentally friendly functional materials (e.g. thermo isolators and surfactants). Also, the project will identify and characterize novel industrial enzymes from extreme thermophilic organisms.