The scent of nature: Lignin’s role in our forests and technologies

Do you remember the last time you stood in an old library or second-hand bookstore? Can you recall the smell? The nostalgic and comforting blend of earthy, woody, and slightly sweet aromas?

This ever-so distinctive scent is a complex aromatic polymer that’s not just a fragrance but the very backbone of all plants and trees: a lignin molecule

A New Perspective on Lignin

In nature, young trees with low concentration of lignin lack the density necessary to be used as sawn hardwood. This greatly impacts their value, and as a result, they are discarded as a low-grade resource and most often turned into woodchips.

What if we could change that? What if we could turn them instead into beautiful, solid hardwoods?

The good news is—we can! And it is nature who has taught us how…

Lignin provides the strength for trees to stand tall and the resilience to weather the storms.

Lignin: The Unsung Hero of Wood

Lignin is the most abundant natural aromatic polymer and the second most abundant organic material on Earth (after cellulose). And together with cellulose, it is a core component of wood. Imagine lignin as the unsung hero of the forest, providing the strength for trees to stand tall and the resilience to weather the storms.

And that familiar scent, so typical of second-hand bookstores, is in fact the aromatic compounds released by decomposing lignin molecules present in the paper of old books.

But it’s not just their scent that makes lignin molecules fascinating to us.

Lignin molecule
photo credit: American Chemical Society

Understanding Lignin’s Role in Timber Technology

Our understanding of lignin and the role that it has in providing plants with structure and rigidity plays a crucial part in the technology that we use to produce our timbers.

Generally, young wood has a lower concentration of lignin compared to mature wood, and the lignin composition and structural arrangement also change as the tree grows, becoming more complex as the tree ages. These differences in lignin composition and structure are crucial for understanding how wood properties evolve from juvenile to mature stages and have significant implications for the use of wood in various applications.

Every year, around the world, phenomenal amounts of trees – because of their size and low lignin levels – are classed as pulp logs and woodchipped.

Crafted Hardwoods can repurpose these resources into beautiful, durable timbers, ensuring a reliable supply of sustainable, quality timbers for the industries that depend on it.

From low-value pulp logs to premium timbers. We can do more with less.

A Solution Inspired by Nature

Drawing on the wisdom of the natural world, our process uses a unique nano-glue that replicates the remarkable properties of the lignin found in centenary trees. Together with advanced robotic and AI, this natured-inspired glue is at the heart of our technology.

When applied to juvenile wood fibres, it gives the fibres the structural properties and strength typically only found in mature trees. And just as nature intended, our nano-glue is completely safe, formaldehyde-free and biodegradable.

So next time you catch that familiar scent while flipping through an old book, take a moment to appreciate the wonders of lignin — the fragrance of innovation, sustainability, and nature's enduring strength.