The oxidation of lignosulfonates (LS) to vanillin by persulphate, oxygen, a
nd 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 mo
delling have been used for the process optimisation has led to the developm
ent of a multivariate mathematical model which describes the oxidation proc
ess 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.