Articolo in rivista, 2024, ENG, 10.3390/molecules29020442

From Waste to Value: Recent Insights into Producing Vanillin from Lignin

Paola D'Arrigo, Letizia A. M. Rossato, Alberto Strini, Stefano Serra

[1,2] Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering "Giulio Natta", Politecnico di Milano, p.zza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy; [1,4] Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche "Giulio Natta", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (SCITEC-CNR), via Luigi Mancinelli 7, 20131 Milan, Italy; [3] Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ITC-CNR), via Lombardia 49, 20098 San Giuliano Milanese, Italy;

Vanillin, one of the most widely used and appreciated flavoring agents worldwide, is the main constituent of vanilla bean extract, obtained from the seed pods of various members belonging to the Orchidaceae family. Due to the great demand in the food confectionery industry, as well as in the perfume industry, medicine, and more, the majority of vanillin used today is produced synthetically, and only less than one percent of the world's vanilla avoring market comes directly from the traditional natural sources. The increasing global demand for vanillin requires alternative and overall sustainable new production methods, and the recovery from biobased polymers, like lignin, is an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical synthesis. The present review provides rstly an overview of the different types of vanillin, followed by a description of the main differences between natural and synthetic vanillin, their preparation, the market of interest, and the authentication issues and the related analytical techniques. Then, the review explores the real potentialities of lignin for vanillin production, presenting rstly the well-assessed classical methods and moving towards the most recent promising approaches through chemical, biotechnological and photocatalytic methodologies, together with the challenges and the principal issues associated with each technique.

Molecules (Basel, Online) 29 (2)

Keywords

flavor, flavor authentication, lignin depolymerization, lignin valorization, photocatalysis, sustainable processes, vanillin

CNR authors

D Arrigo Paola, Strini Alberto, Serra Stefano

CNR institutes

ITC – Istituto per le tecnologie della costruzione, SCITEC – Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche "Giulio Natta"