Researchers:
Jenny Arnling Bååth,
Silvia Hüttner,
Scott Mazurkewich,
Marcel Taillefer,
Johan Larsbrink,
Lisbeth OlssonWallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC) is a research center with a focus on
New materials from trees. Activities of WWSC are funded by the
Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
The development of new wood-based materials is of great interest to the forest industry. Wood tissue is composed of a complex biopolymer mixture containing cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. Covalent bonds between lignin and different polysaccharides form closely associated structures known as lignin-carbohydrate complexes (LCCs). As a result, the successful extraction and separation of wood polymers poses a major challenge for materials biorefinery concepts. Enzymes that target lignin-carbohydrate (LC) bonds are especially useful for biorefinery applications as they can facilitate the isolation of individual wood components in combination with mild chemical treatments.
The aims are:
- to separate the different biopolymers with increased efficiency and with only limited degradation of the wood polymers
- to discover and characterise enzymes for wood processing and valorisation
- to apply enzymes to extract wood components in their native and polymeric form
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