Softwood hemicellulose (galactoglucomannan, GGM) is one of Sweden’s major renewable resources that make up 25% of the wood. GGM is, however, currently discarded in industrial waste-streams and its potential is not sufficiently explored. In BIOFUNC we will develop sustainable processes to substitute GGM structure and thereby transform it to a versatile and excellent renewable resource for novel high-performance products with added value. For this purpose we will develop new biotechnical processes for GGM recovery and enzyme-aided conversion to added value products that replace existing non-renewable products, but also have entirely novel added functionality. The outcome will be novel surfactants and a new family of polymers with special functions (e.g. controlled degradability, cellulose/wood/surface adhesiveness, acrylate latex/emulsion stabilisation). Thus the enzymatic route enable production of these high-value GGM-derivatives from GGM recovered from a low-value stream. This framework project is funded by Swedish Strategic Research and coordinated by Prof. Henrik Stålbrand (Biochemistry).

Contact persons: Henrik Stålbrand (Biochemistry) and Tommy Nylander (Physical Chemistry)