EUCALIVA

• Sustainable lignin-based precursors: demonstrate a renewable, bio-based and economically viable method for formulating lignin blends from European Eucalyptus biomass as precursors for carbon fibres, fibrous mats, stretchable films and non-woven materials.

• Pilot-scale processing and validation: validate a pilot-scale production chain using kraft lignin to produce precursor blends for electrospinning and wet-coagulation spinning, while exploring further applications for recovered lignin.

• Enhanced material properties: improve the mechanical, thermal and electrical conductivity properties of lignin-derived carbon fibres for use in structural composites, protective and insulating materials, and multifunctional conductive, piezoresistive and piezoelectric applications.

• Functional materials for advanced applications: demonstrate the feasibility of producing carbon fibres and functional materials with tailored properties for smart wearables and biosensors, offering a cost-effective alternative to petroleum-derived polyacrylonitrile (PAN).

• New business opportunities: create opportunities for innovation, business development and employment in the pulp and paper industry through lignin separation and valorisation.

• Sustainability and market replication: assess the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the developed products and processes through life-cycle and cost analyses, and define a strategy for market replication.

Results

• Lignin recovery and preparation: Developed and optimised methods to extract, separate and prepare lignin from black liquor, a by-product of the kraft pulp production process using Eucalyptus globulus.
• Lignin-based fibre production: Developed processes to manufacture lignin-based fibres and improve their properties, creating precursors for carbon fibres, elastic films, textiles and non-woven materials.
• Improved carbon fibre performance: Developed faster and more efficient thermal stabilisation methods and produced carbon fibres with enhanced mechanical properties, offering potential alternatives to glass fibres in structural composite applications.
• Pilot-scale demonstration: Built and validated a pilot-scale production facility, advancing the technology from TRL 4–5 to TRL 7 and supplying materials for testing by industrial partners.
• New functional material applications: Demonstrated stretchable lignin-based materials incorporating printed electronic circuits and electrodes for monitoring biomarkers in perspiration. Their integration into protective clothing and gloves was also successfully tested under repeated stretching.

Impacts

• Reduced industrial waste: Reduced the volume of industrial side-streams sent for disposal by recovering and valorising lignin from pulp production.

• Improved process efficiency: Demonstrated operational and energy cost savings compared with existing lignin processing technologies.

• Progress towards commercialisation: Advanced lignin-to-bio-product concepts towards semi-commercial scale, supporting their future industrial deployment.

• New bio-based materials: Delivered a biomass-derived building block of European origin, validated at demonstration scale, and advanced the development of new bio-based materials.

• Stronger bio-based value chains: Contributed to the creation of new bio-based value chains and cross-industry cooperation, supporting collaboration between sectors.

• Enhanced industrial competitiveness: Strengthened companies' innovation capacity through new knowledge and technologies, helping them develop products that respond to European and global market needs.