Exploring use of lignin in coatings applications

Dec. 4, 2009, Vancouver – Lignol Energy Corporation and PPG Industries have formed a
joint development agreement to develop commercial applications incorporating
Lignol’s High-Purity Lignin (HP-L) and lignin derivatives in various industrial
coatings. Lignol is a cellulosic ethanol and biorefining technology developer,
and PPG Industries is a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products,
specialty materials, chemicals, glass, and fibreglass. The agreement
establishes a program to incorporate Lignol’s renewable and sustainable HP-L
into PPG’s existing and potentially new coatings applications. The agreement
includes a detailed and stage-gated work program that the parties will work on,
using HP-L as a replacement for chemicals derived from petroleum-based
products.

“There is a significant market trend toward products containing renewable and
sustainable materials that have environmental and functional benefits,” says
Chuck Kahle, chief technology officer of PPG Industries. “We are interested in
exploring potential applications for Lignol’s HP-L lignin within our coatings
businesses for several key reasons, including the potential to displace
petroleum based feedstocks with a bio-based sustainable raw material, and to
introduce chemical functionality, rarely found elsewhere in nature, which will
benefit end-use properties.”

“Our world-class lignin research group looks forward to working with PPG Industries
in developing application-specific custom coatings products using HP-L lignin
to displace petroleum-based chemicals,” says Ross MacLachlan, president and CEO
of Lignol. “This agreement demonstrates our continued progress in the
development of potentially large-scale commercial applications for our
high-purity lignins.”

In converting non-food cellulosic biomass feedstocks such as agricultural residues
and forestry waste into ethanol, the Lignol biorefining process fractionates
the biomass and extracts lignin to produce a range of HP-L lignin materials.
These compounds have been shown to have application in a wide range of
industrial products, replacing materials typically derived from petrochemicals,
with a consequent reduction of greenhouse gas formation.