Woody biomass and wheat straw are all sources of the natural polymer lignin with more than 50 megatons of lignin produced annually at commercial scale. However, most is burned to produce energy, which alternatively could be used to make useful chemicals. A major issue with producing chemicals from lignin is that the properties of lignin vary from source to source and from season to season. Such variability can affect the yield and quality of the chemicals produced from lignin.
