Photodegradation of lignin from black liquor using a UV/TiO2 system

An eco-friendly advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been developed for the treatment of lignin from alfalfa black liquor digestion. The method is based on the photodegradation of soluble lignin using TiO2/UV photocatalytic technique. The photodegradation of the lignin black liquor have showed very interesting products such as vanillin and vanillic acid. The presence of these degradation products have been identified using GC-MS technique. The method is simple, effective and the resulted degradation compounds could be isolated and used as valuable industrial products. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.