The oxidation of lignosulfonates (LS) to vanillin by persulphate,
oxygen, and a variety of catalytic systems has been investigated.
Cobalt and copper catalysts appeared to be the most effective
in the oxidation by oxygen. An investigation where multivariate
mathematical and statistical design and modelling have been
used for the process optimisation has led to the development
of a multivariate mathematical model which describes the
oxidation process with high predictive capacity. By using this
model, an increase of the vanillin yield from 4.1% of the current
procedure to 7.2% is obtained, this corresponding to 75%
relative improvement of the yield