Alkaline and Organosolv Lignins from Furfural Residue: Structural Features and Antioxidant Activity

Abstract

Furfural residue (FR), composed mainly of cellulose and lignin, is an industrial waste produced during furfural manufacture. In this study, dioxane, alkali, ethanol, alkali-ethanol, and alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) were used to extract lignins from FR. The structural features of these lignins obtained were characterized by sugar analysis, GPC, UV, FT-IR, and HSQC spectra. As compared to dioxane lignin (DL), other lignins showed lower molecular weights (Mw) owing to the partial cleavage of the linkages between lignin units. Results from HSQC spectra revealed that β-O-4' and β-5' were still the major linkages of the FR lignin. Moreover, p-coumaric and ferulic acids were released and co-precipitated in the lignin preparations extracted with alkali and AHP, whereas part of the esters in DL were preserved during the dioxane extraction. Antioxidant activity investigation indicated that the antioxidant property of the alkali and alkali-ethanol lignins was higher than that of the commercial antioxidant, butylated hydroxytoluene.