Kraft lignin fractionation by organic solvents: Correlation between molar mass and higher heating value

The new concept of integrated biorefineries has significantly changed pulp and paper industries. Lignin, which until then was only burned to generate energy, is now an important raw material for new products production. Kraft lignin (KL) fractions obtained by sequential fractionation with five organic solvents. This sequence allows to extract fractions from lower molar mass to higher molar one, resulting in more homogeneous samples. Lignin's fractions were characterized by FTIR, GPC, TGA and Higher Heating Value (HHV). HHV for KL was 24966, the lowest being 17,891 (F5) and the highest being 27051 J/g (F1), inversely proportional to the molar masses of fractions. This is a very important result indicating that the lower HHV fractions can be used for certain applications, such as antioxidants, additives, polymers, among others, adding value to kraft lignin. Fractions with higher HHV could be used for energy generation in the cellulose paper industry.