Native lignin solvation and extraction: general discussion

Mojgan Nejad opened the discussion of the introductory Spiers Memorial Lecture by Dimitris S. Argyropoulos: I have a question about the last part of your talk. How did the modication affect the metal impurities? Any impurities can impact the quality of carbon ber because they can cause ber breakage. Have you conducted elemental analysis to measure the amounts of impurities (for instance, Na, K, Ca, etc., in the modied lignins)? Dimitris S. Argyropoulos answered: Unfortunately we have not conducted elemental analysis to measure the amounts of, for instance, Na, K, Ca, etc., in the modied lignins. Chamseddine Guizani asked: An open question concerns the role of radical species during solvent fractionation of lignin: how are such radicals redistributed during the solvent fractionation process between the soluble and insoluble lignin fractions? Dimitris S. Argyropoulos replied: Unfortunately we have not examined and quantied radical species for our fractions so as to respond in detail to this excellent question.