Dutch researchers seek to upgrade lignin to material for sustainable batteries

In Germany, the new joint project “LignUp” aims to upgrade lignin from a waste product to a recyclable material. The project will receive almost five million euros in funding from the Carl Zeiss Foundation over the next six years as part of the “CZS Breakthroughs” program External link.

Specifically, the researchers are focussing on the use of lignin as a starting material for functional materials that help to make energy storage systems more sustainable. Researchers want to look for new battery materials that can be produced on the basis of lignin and that no longer require these metals. Lignin can also be used to synthesize new types of filter materials that can selectively separate metals from aqueous solutions. This would allow critical metals to be recovered in sustainable battery recycling processes or extracted in an environmentally friendly way in water-based ore processing.