Jessica De Micco, Minu Masliha Pallikkandiyil, Georgia Ní Fhionnaláin and Mauricio Troncoso Castellanos are Team LignoFUN from University College Dublin in Ireland.
Increasing water pollution and declining levels of drinking water quality has increased the attention on wastewater treatments to improve water quality. As a result, flocculating agents are used to enhance the solid-liquid separation in wastewater treatment to achieve the desired water purity level. However, the excessive use of synthetic flocculants and chemicals generates vast amounts of sludge that present disposal problems affecting the soil biodiversity and fertility.
Since chemical flocculants exhibit ecological insecurity and secondary pollution, the production of bio-derived, multi-functional, biodegradable, and renewable flocculants will promote the use of more sustainable resources and facilitate the transition toward a circular bioeconomy.
Lignin, the largest renewable aromatic resource in the world, is the most underutilized biopolymer to produce value-added materials. Team LignoFUN wants to generate stable, high-charge-density lignin-based flocculants using cost-effective production processes, to treat wastewater and achieve desired water quality, without adverse environmental impacts.
