Recovery of lignin and lignans enriched fractions from thermomechanical pulp mill process water through membrane separation technology: Pilot-plant study and techno-economic assessment

M. Villain-Gambier (1) , M. Courbalay (1, 2) , A. Klem (3) , S. Dumarçay (2) , D. Trebouet (1)

1 DSA-IPHC - Département Sciences Analytiques et Interactions Ioniques et Biomoléculaires
2 LERMAB - Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur le Matériau Bois
3 Norske Skog Golbey SAS

Membrane process is a viable option for valuable compounds such as lignin and lignans recovery in aqueous discharges of thermomechanical pulp industries. Recovery of lignin and lignans with continuous mode ultrafiltration/nanofiltration installation has not been studied in detail previously. After flotation used to remove lipophilic matter of pulp mill effluent, the three steps membrane process was composed of a clarification step by a 150 kDa ultrafiltration used to remove suspended matter, followed by two nanofiltrations of 1 kDa and 300 Da to respectively retain lignin and lignans. A techno-economic evaluation of this process has been performed. The process with a plant capacity of 60 m(3) h(-1) was able to produce 12 tons of lignin and 825 kg of lignans per month. The influence of plant capacity between 0.1 and 60 m(3) h(-1) on extracts production cost allows determining a production cost equal or below 10 V.kg(-1) as plant capacity reached 10 m(3) h(-1). Valorization of lignin and lignans as parts of the formulas of high added value products could allow thermomechanical plants to head towards biorefinery and cleaner production concepts. Furthemore, the 300 Da permeate possessed the required characteristics to be re used and save fresh water utilization. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mots clés: HEMICELLULOSES; PURIFICATION; OXIDATION; MICROFILTRATION; CARBOHYDRATE COMPLEXES; BLACK LIQUOR; COST; ULTRAFILTRATION; PERFORMANCE; GALACTOGLUCOMANNAN; biorefinery; lignans; lignin; membrane process; techno-economic assessment; thermomechanical pulp mill

Domaines: Chimie

M. Villain-Gambier, M. Courbalay, A. Klem, S. Dumarçay, D. Trebouet. Recovery of lignin and lignans enriched fractions from thermomechanical pulp mill process water through membrane separation technology: Pilot-plant study and techno-economic assessment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020, 249, pp.119345. ⟨10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119345⟩. ⟨hal-02474260⟩