Surfactants are chemicals with both hydrophilic (water loving) and hydrophobic (water hating) regions, which makes them extremely useful for mixing oils and water, stabilising foams and removing dirt from surfaces and laundry. As a result, surfactants are used across a broad array of industrial sectors and products, including laundry detergents and cleaning, personal care (shampoos, hand and body wash liquids), plant protection, in paints and coatings and as emulsifiers in pharmaceuticals. Most of the surfactants available today are substantially derived from fossil carbon. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve Net Zero by 2050 (UK Net Zero Strategy), the use of fossil carbon needs to be avoided. Biobased surfactants could be an alternative but those that are currently available have limited functionality and are typically 3 to 5 times more expensive that fossil-based surfactants. However, customers and consumers are demanding sustainable biobased ingredients and there is a real need now for highly functional, biobased surfactants for applications such as laundry detergents.

This project will demonstrate the potential for novel biobased surfactants, based on lignin from woody biomass, to replace fossil-derived surfactants. First, the lignin will be extracted from the biomass. Then it will be depolymerised into its constituent subunits and finally it will be converted to a surfactant through addition of an oily hydrophobe. The properties of the resultant surfactant and its potential for use in laundry detergents will be explored. The success of our project, Lignofact, will strengthen the UK renewables economy and deliver not only an exciting new surfactant but highly trained experts in biomass use to help drive the research in renewable carbon and sustainable biomass in UK industry.