Degradative methods for lignin valorisation

The ever faster changing socioeconomic and environmental conditions require more than ever a proper valorisation of renewable biomass. Lignin, as one of the main components of land-based renewable biomass, is receiving ever more attention also as starting material for the production of monomeric value-added aromatic molecules, and/or fuels. While lignin depolymerisation, or degradation, can be done in form of a ‘black-box’ approach, a more reasonable and desirable fashion would be a structure-based approach. The presented overview presents the research field ‘lignin degradation’ starting from a short introduction regarding lignin and its structural understanding, to then enter the traditional area of wet-chemical lignin degradation. Discussion is then expanded to catalytic conversion processes and biotechnological depolymerisation approaches. The chapter will finish with a hint on thermal and electrochemical methods for lignin degradation.