Nanochemistry and biotechnology

Synthesis and characterization of nanoporous microspheres with lignin
Goliszek M.1
1 Department of Polymer Chemistry, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. Maria Curie-Skłodowska Sq. 5, 20-400 Lublin, Poland. 
E-mail: marta.goliszek@poczta.umcs.lublin.pl

The increasing emphasis on environmental protection means that innovative and more environmentally friendly sorbents are in demand. For this reason, a more efficient use of biopolymers formed as by-products of existing processing, e.g., in the forestry and agricultural industries producing various lignocellulosic residues are of very high importance. Although lignin itself is not characterized by developed porous structure, it could be useful in sorption processes as a renewable and functional component of porous polymeric microspheres [1-2]. 
In this study, a synthesis of porous microspheres with lignin, styrene (St) and/or divinylbenzene (DVB) is described [3]. Before the copolymerization lignin was modified with methacryloyl chloride (L-Met) to improve the reactivity. The spherical copolymers of lignin, St and/or DVB were synthesized using suspension-emulsion polymerization method. The synthesis of microspheres was optimized by addition of different amounts of lignin. The microspheres are nano- and mesoporous with the specific surface area in the range of 0.1-409 m2/g.
Porous microspheres with lignin have a great potential in sorption processed due to their well-developed porous structure and the presence of various functional groups.

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