Lignin, a major component of lignocellulosic biomass, is generated in enormous amounts during the pulp production. It is also a major coproduct of second generation biofuels. The effective utilization of lignin is critical for the accelerated development of the advanced cellulosic biorefinery. Low cost and availability of lignin make it attractive precursor for preparation of a range of carbon materials, including activated carbons, activated carbon fibers (CF), structural CF, graphitic carbons or carbon black that could be used for environmental protection, as catalysts, in energy storage applications or as reinforcing components in advanced composite materials. Technical lignins are very diverse in terms of their molecular weight, structure, chemical reactivity, and chemical composition, which is a consequence of the different origin of the lignin and the various methods of lignin isolation. The inherent heterogeneity of lignin is the main obstacle to the preparation of high-performance CF. Although lignin-based CF still do not compete with polyacrylonitrile-derived CF in mechanical properties, they nevertheless provide new markets through high availability and low production costs. Alternatively, technical lignin could be used for production of carbon adsorbents, which have very high surface areas and pore volumes comparable to the best commercial activated carbons. These porous carbons are useful for purifying gas and aqueous media from organic pollutants or adsorption of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions. They also could be used as catalysts or electrodes in electrochemical applications.

木质素是木质纤维素生物质的主要成分，在纸浆生产过程中会大量生成。它也是第二代生物燃料的主要副产品。木质素的有效利用对于先进纤维素生物精炼厂的加速发展至关重要。木质素的低成本和可用性使其成为制备各种碳材料的诱人前体，包括活性炭，活性碳纤维（CF），结构CF，石墨碳或炭黑，这些碳材料可用于环境保护，作为催化剂。储能应用或作为高级复合材料中的增强组件。工业木质素在分子量，结构，化学反应性和化学组成方面非常多样化，这是木质素来源不同和木质素分离方法多种多样的结果。木质素固有的异质性是制备高性能CF的主要障碍。尽管木质素基CF在机械性能上仍无法与聚丙烯腈CF竞争，但它们仍以高可用性和低生产成本提供了新的市场。或者，工业木质素可用于生产碳吸附剂，其具有与最佳市售活性炭相当的非常高的表面积和孔体积。这些多孔碳可用于从有机污染物中净化气体和水介质，或从水溶液中吸附重金属离子。它们还可以用作电化学应用中的催化剂或电极。