Today’s value of lignin is only its fuel value - about $50 per ton. Conversion into a renewable alternative for ABS Resin can change that.
Lignin’s resistance to conversion into useful products is an obstacle for the efficient use of cellulosic feedstocks in biorefineries and paper mills. They currently burn lignin for its fuel value which is only about $50 per ton.
Meridian Waste Solutions, an integrated, non-hazardous solid waste services and technology company in St. Louis, Missouri and Richmond, Virginia, received a $3 million grant from the USDA to support the commercialization of lignin conversion and refining technologies owned by their subsidiary Attis Innovations.
The technology is based on the AST-Organosolv process for the fractionation of biomass into cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, the conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose into biofuel (butanol) and the conversion of lignin into acrylonitrile-butadiene-lignin (ABL Resin). The technology was developed and patented by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and licensed to Attis.
ABL Resin is proven to be a higher-performing renewable alternative to the petroleum-derived acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). With a market value of $1,500 to $2,400 per ton it therefore has the potential to make a significant contribution to reducing dependence on petroleum-derived chemicals and fuels.