Techno-economic analysis of water precipitation for lignin value prior to pulping

•Use of separation units for solvent recovery is limited by solvent concentrations.•For high-boiling solvents, evaporator and distillation column are used sequentially.•For low-boiling solvents, water precipitation is infeasible at high flow rates.•Woodchip flow rate and solvent recovery are significant in solvent recovery cost.•Solvent recovery cost via water precipitation is higher than lignin market value.