i3N is pleased to invite the academic and scientific community to an upcoming seminar presented by Prof. Marie-Pierre Laborie from the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST). The session, titled "Lignin Multiphase Plastics: Fundamentals and Processing by Extrusion-based 3D Printing", will take place on September 30, at 11h30, in the CENIMAT|i3N Amphitheater.
Following the pioneering work of Glasser’s group in designing multiphase lignin plastics by blending organosolv lignin with liquid crystalline cellulose derivatives, my research group at the University of Freiburg has expanded on the approach to process liquid crystalline lignin / cellulose blends with 3D printing and shear casting.
Today, this approach enables processing with extrusion and casting-based technologies lignin/cellulosic blends with lignin content as high as 70%. It also delivers multiphase lignin plastics that are highly tunable in mechanical properties.
In this lecture, the main findings from a decade of research at the University of Freiburg on such lignin multiphase plastics will be highlighted. Insights on the molecular mechanisms underlying the tunability of properties in lignin multiphase plastics will be presented. Further, the need for continuing research to enable upscaling and foster technology transfer in lignin multiphased plastics will be discussed.
Marie-Pierre Laborie received her PhD in Wood Science from Virginia Tech (2002) and joined the Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty at Washington State University thereafter to develop her research in biobased polymers and composites. She obtained her habilitation in Polymer Engineering and Processing from Grenoble Institute of Technology in 2009 and then joined the University of Freiburg as full professor and Lead of the Chair of Forest Biomaterials. There she
particularly strengthened her research in the valorization of plant-based polyphenols for bioplastics development, combining lignin chemistry and liquid crystal polymer blends. In 2026 she moved to the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology , joining the Functional Polymeric and Particulate Materials unit.
Since 2013, she is a Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science.