Awarded research on lignin foam as a fossil-free insulation material
Lignin is found in the cell walls of plants and helps to give wood its mechanical strength. Ievgen Pylypchuk is a researcher at the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, and his research is based on lignin, which is residues from the pulp and paper industry and which is mainly burned for energy today.
Awarded research on lignin foam as a fossil-free insulation material
The material Ievgen Pylypchuk and his colleagues at Stockholm University have developed is a type of foam that they have chosen to call LignoFoam. It is produced by a mixture of kraft lignin and lignosulfonate that forms a kind of gel. This gel is mixed with the natural biopolymer chitosan – a natural polysaccharide made from the shell of crustaceans. This mixture is freeze-dried, which causes a porous foam to form. The foam then not only has insulating but also fire-resistant properties and is a lightweight material. Thus, it could be used as insulation, both for heat and sound, and thus contribute to phasing out fossil materials.
– Our patented LignoFoam is 80 percent lighter than expanded polystyrene (EPS) and is manufactured without the use of toxic substances, says Ievgen Pylypchuk.
Ievgen Pylypchuk, who is originally from Ukraine but has now been working as a researcher for six years in Sweden.
Research stays in the USA and Japan
With the Competence Development Award, the Gunnar Sundblad Research Foundation wants to promote cross-border development, the researcher's personal development and new contacts, and therefore encourages research stays abroad. In his research project, Ievgen Pylypchuck plans to visit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States and Kyushu University in Japan.
– In order to be able to use the material as thermal insulation in the future, we need to understand more about its ability to conduct heat and how the material can be scaled up in an energy-efficient way. At MIT, there is research equipment where I can make characterizations that provide more knowledge about this," says Ievgen Pylypchuck.
The LignoFoam material can also be pressed into flat sheets. It is these sheets that will be the focus of research in Japan.
– In Japan, I will measure the compressed LignoFoam material's ability to absorb and pass through gases as a membrane. This is another piece of the puzzle to understand the material's usefulness, explains Ievgen Pylypchuck.
– Through his research, Ievgen Pylypchuck shows exciting areas of use for lignin that can provide future high-value products from one of the pulp and paper industry's largest residual streams, says Torgny Persson, Head of Research and Innovation at the Swedish Forest Industries Federation and Chairman of the Gunnar Sundblad Research Foundation.
The Gunnar Sundblad Research Foundation's annual Competence Development Prize has been awarded since 2007. The goal is to promote the development of the Swedish pulp and paper industry's transformation towards improved and new products and services. Read more on www.sundbladsfonden.se.
The prize will be awarded on 24 April 2024 at the Future Meeting, which is organised by the Swedish Forest Industries Federation.
Read more in English about Ievgen Pylypchuks research
Last updated: April 15, 2024
Source: Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry