A green method for obtaining vanillin from technical lignin produced from pulp

Huge amounts of technical or Kraft lignin are formed during pulp production. This lignin is difficult to process and so is usually just incinerated for heat production. A team of researchers, reporting in the journal Angewandte Chemie, have now succeeded in developing a green method for recovering the flavoring agent vanillin from this raw material. The materials used in this method are all recycled from papermaking processes, and only power and heat need to be added.