The funding helps fill a relatively unmet need, as lignin, the woody part of plants, has not received as much attention as plant sugars, says Sue Nokes, chair of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. “[L]ignin has been sort of ignored,” except in low-value uses, such as prefabricated building materials.
Nokes’ team will explore higher-value products, but will first focus on studying lignin’s complex structure. One team will study how lignin deconstructs into its base compounds, while another team will work on creating synthetic lignin. “We want to develop techniques to find out why lignin deconstructs the way it does,” Nokes says. “If we build it, we know exactly what’s in it, and then when we deconstruct it, we know what we should be getting.”
University of Kentucky is sharing the grant with researchers from the University of Louisiana.