SPLENDOR

The pulp and paper industry is one of the largest sources of black liquor, a by-product containing large amounts of lignin that has the potential to be transformed into high-value aromatic chemicals. However, current technologies rely on purified lignin, which is a costly and resource-intensive process.

SPLENDOR aims to address this issue by developing and demonstrating a unique one-step depolymerisation technology that can convert lignin in black liquor directly into valuable aromatic chemicals, without the need for pretreatment, additional chemicals or catalysts. This simple, economically viable process can be seamlessly integrated into existing pulp mills.

This technology enables the large-scale and sustainable production of bio-based building blocks, such as vanillin and syringol. It converts the entire lignin fraction into bio-aromatic monomers, dimers, and oligomers, while the inorganic chemicals are recycled back to the mill in a zero-waste system. In this way, SPLENDOR promotes a circular economy and helps to replace the use fossil-based raw materials in chemical production.

The project aims to demonstrate how this patented technology could become central to the pulp industry of the future. The goal is to optimise the conversion of black liquor into high-value chemicals and ensure the technology's commercial relevance, for example by using it to produce plasticisers for tyres, bio-based coatings, and ingredients such as vanillin. In doing so, the technology is expected to create new business opportunities and play a key role in the transition towards a circular and fossil-free chemical industry. 

RISE role and mission

As a project partner, RISE has a central role in the developing, testing, and implementing the SPLENDOR technology. RISE contributes expertise across the entire innovation chain – from laboratory development to industrial application – and is responsible for process development, sustainability aspects, and techno-economic analysis, as well as project management, lignin sampling, and characterisation. RISE also contributes to the development and testing of the pilot plant, the creation of methodologies for pulp mill integration, and the integration of the prototype into Lignocity. In addition, RISE is responsible for dissemination and communication of the project’s results.

The project is driven by a multidisciplinary consortium of 12 partners from seven European countries, bringing together academic institutions, industry leaders, and innovation actors to realise SPLENDOR’s vision.