COVER STORY

Lignophenol
The Ultimate Eco-friendly, Multi-functional Material
One of the promising energy and material sources of the post

MIHO KAWASAKI
petroleum age is plant-derived biomass. This article looks at the
research of Mie University professor Masamitsu Funaoka, whose
research produced the new reusable material lignophenol from
Professor Masamitsu Funaoka

T
the organic material lignin found in trees. Miho Kawasaki reports. with a vial of his lignophenol

The Jomon Sugi, a large cedar tree located
on Yakushima island, is thousands of years old.
Horyu-ji, a Buddhist temple in Nara Prefecture
built from wood, has maintained its original
shape for over 1,000 years. The reason that wood,
even after being cut, can maintain its shape for
long periods is the organic molecule of lignin,
which is contained in a trees cells, explains Mie
Universitys Faculty of Bioresources Professor
Masamitsu Funaoka, who for many years has
been examining the ways in which forest re-
sources can be put to sustained use.
Of the organic molecules contained in tree
cell walls, 70% are cellulose and hemicellulose,
which are plant fibers used for making paper,
and 30% are lignin. Unlike the versatile cellu-
lose, which is used as pulp and other products,
an effective use for lignin was long undiscov-
ered, so it was almost always discarded.
Professor Funaoka says, It must be a sub-
stance with incredible power, if it has survived
on Earth for several hundred million years,
through environmental changes and natural se-
lection. I always thought it was such a waste to
treat lignin like a nuisance and throw it away.
In general, the life of a tree is thought of as
being from the time it sprouts and grows large
into a tree until it withers and dies. However,
trees also have a photosynthesis system for pull-
ing in CO2 from the air, so if you think of them
being a gigantic conjugate of precisely arranged
microscopic molecules, you can see they have
another life cycle. That is, whether they are cut
down and processed, or after they wither and
die, over the next hundreds or thousands of
years, an amazing length of time, their state
changes at a molecular level, and they ultimately
turn back into carbon dioxide. Petroleum and
coal are very close to the final stage of carbon di-
oxide. If the timber resources which contain lig-
nin are put to good use, then they can be instru-
mental in the post petroleum age.
Many researchers in the past have thought
that lignin could be useful, but in order to extract
lignin from wood, they used reactions with strong
acids or alkalis, or applied high temperatures.
However, it was a series of failures because this
often resulted in serious alteration of the lignin.
Its a substance which was originally meant
to protect the tree by adapting to changes in
weather and temperature, so by applying acids
or alkalis to drastically change its environ-

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ment, you suddenly alter it and it loses its
original properties.
So without using extreme chemical reactions,
and without harming lignins original properties,
Professor Funaoka began searching for a method
to separate it from cellulose. What gained his at-
tention were phenol derivatives, which have a
high affinity to lignin and are acid resistant.
Feeling that he had discovered his key, during
the 1988 summer vacation Professor Funaoka
secluded himself alone in his lab away from stu-
dents so he could concentrate, and began run-
ning experiments. He found that after using a
phenol derivative to surround and protect the
lignin that is concentrated in the cell walls of
wood, and then mixing in an aqueous acid and
stirring it, the molecular masses separated, and
both cellulose and lignin could be separated
without damaging them. Since phenol deriva-
tives can be used as a switch device, by combin-
ing them with lignin, it was possible to control
them at a molecular level, so it could be separated
or connected molecularly, combined into straight
chains, or made into small structures. He named
this new substance made of combined lignin and
phenol derivative lignophenol.
Anything Is Possible
By using lignophenol, which maintains the
properties of lignin that preserve lumbers
shape long after it has been cut down, and mix-
ing it with wastepaper or pulp and allowing it to
harden, a new material can be created that has
the same texture as lumber. By changing the
ratio of lignophenol to pulp or controlling those
properties, the density and strength can be ad-
justed freely, so its possible to make construc-
tion materials that have the feel of wood, but
are as hard as concrete. Yet unlike wood, in-
stead of cutting or shaving it, its possible to
shape it freely just like plastic. It may even be-
come possible to build houses without using
nails. It has excellent water resistance and sta-
bility, so its use in car bodies and other parts is
also anticipated. It was used as a material in the
body of Toyotas i-unit single-person vehicle
that was displayed at Expo 2005 Aichi Japan.
According to Professor Funaoka, Just like a
wide variety of materials such as plastics and
synthetic fibers derived from petroleum, ligno-
phenol can be used in a variety of ways too. If it
can be made with petroleum, then anything is
possible. Though the material and shape are
different, the molecular level properties dont
change, so by re-dissolving lignophenol and
pulp, its possible to use it over and over. It can
be called the ultimate eco-friendly material.
In 2001, Professor Funaoka constructed the
first plant for molecular conversion on the Mie
University campus to make lignophenol. In
2003, targeting business, the second plant was
built in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture for
proving tests by enterprises set up by several
private companies. Furthermore, the forest sys-
tem plant with key words Continuous, compact
and mobile is now working.
Unlike petroleum which can be dug up,
transported and easily used, production of lign-
ophenol from wood requires a lot of effort, and
a lot of cost. However, the day will come when
our petroleum resources are exhausted. So as a
replacement, we must work on mass production
of lignophenol and development of a variety of
applications for it.
Miho Kawasaki is a freelance writer.
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