Kraft lignin from black liquor wastes have been converted into epichlorohydrin-crosslinked beads by inverse suspension polymerization. A careful control of the different parameters allowed the preparation of spherical beads with a relatively narrow diameter size distribution. The obtained beads, without permanent porosity, swell well in hydroalcoholic media. Grafting of the sulfonythydrazine moiety using a two-step route was further performed to apply them to carbonyl compounds scavenging. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 116: 1184-1189,2010