Multidimensional Quantitative Analysis of Process Parameters and Performance of Lignin-Based Sustainable Transparent Wood: Response Surface Analysis, Linear Analysis, and Life Cycle Assessment

Transparent wood is regarded as a potential lightweight building and energy storage material with a promising future in the field of energy conservation engineering. However, the relationship between the process parameters and product performance remains unclear. Here, the authors report a lignin-based sustainable transparent wood (LTW) composite. At the same time, the preparation parameters and product performance were quantitatively analyzed in multiple dimensions. Initially, according to the response surface method of weighted regression analysis, under the optimum conditions of an impregnation temperature of 140 °C, impregnation time of 1.5 h, and phenolic ratio of 1:2, LTW-11 had the highest composite score (transmittance: 68.34%, impregnation rate: 1029.2%) and good chromatic aberration performance (L: 24.61, A: 3.50, B: 6.92). Then, linear analysis showed that the thermal performance was strongly correlated with the total color difference ΔE (R2 = 0.57983). In addition, a life cycle assessment was performed for the LTW and ETW to determine the differences between the two. The results showed that compared with ETW, the global warming potential (GWP) of LTW declined by 75.37% in the resin immersion stage and 34.58% in the resin synthesis stage. The combined decrease was 65.84%, confirming that LTW had both environmentally friendly and commercial potential to reduce environmental impact and replace traditional petroleum-based materials.