Replacing polyols with lignin
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Next to MDI, polyols are the second-most-important basic component of PIR insulation. And like most of our raw materials, they are made from fossil raw materials. Therefore, we have been actively participating in the project SWEETWOODS to investigate if we can use high-quality lignin from hardwood as a sustainable alternative.
Progress status
| 🚀 STAGE | Study 🡆 LAB TESTING 🡆 Pilot trial 🡆 Launch 🡆 Upscale |
| 📈 NEXT STEP | Seek new partner(s) to improve end-product quality |
Project description
What is it?
SWEETWOODS is a collaboration between Recticel and 8 other European companies to reduce global dependence on fossil fuels and revolutionize the wood industry. The initiative’s objective is to convert 90% of sustainable hardwood into usable biomaterials, mainly high-performance lignin and wood sugars.
Our goal is to use the extracted lignin as a sustainable alternative for fossil-based polyols without impairing the quality of our insulation boards.
“Lignin is among the most abundant organic materials; it accounts for about 30% of wood weight. And yet, it’s a waste leftover from the paper-making industry that currently has limited to no high-value applications in other fields. That makes it the perfect candidate for increasing bio content in our boards.”
How do we do it?
Traditional wood industries turn only 40 to 50% of wood into valuable products and use what’s left to produce lower-value energy. For the Sweetwoods project, a prestigious demonstration plant was built in Estonia where biomass from sustainably managed hardwood can be almost completely converted into lignin and sugars of exeptionally high quality. The game-changing technology enables us to create raw materials for a variety of products, like rigid insulation foam, with less waste, less water and chemical use, and less carbon emissions.
The result
Lab-scale samples with 10% lignin showed that the depolymerized material doesn’t have the right quality yet, but the potential is definitely there. We are running trials with lignin-based polyols as we speak and are looking to continue to explore the lignin option as a renewable raw material.