ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,331,150, issued on June 17, was assigned to Stora Enso OYJ (Helsinki).
"Process for preparing a solution of lignin in an aqueous medium" was invented by Ben Nasli Bakir (Saltsjo-boo, Sweden), Ashar Zafar (Alta, Sweden) and Jesper Ekstrom (Johanneshov, Sweden).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention relates to a process for lignin dissolution in which partial methylolation of lignin is carried out during the step of preparing a solution of lignin in an aqueous medium comprising alkali and phenol. The lignin prepared according to the process of the present invention can be used to manufacture lignin-based phenolic resins, which...