The industrial or chemical process of removing lignin from plant material like wood, making the fibers lighter, whiter, and easier to process into paper or textiles.
From de- (remove) + lignification (the process of becoming woody, from Latin lignum). The -ification suffix indicates a chemical transformation process. Became a standard term in industrial chemistry and paper science during the mid-1800s.
Without delignification, we wouldn't have white paper—that brown stuff you see is lignin, which is what makes wood rigid. The chemical pulping process that removes lignin was a revolutionary discovery that made paper affordable for everyone and enabled the printing and literacy explosion.
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