Oxidative Catalytic Fractionation and Depolymerization of Lignin in a One-Pot Single-Catalyst System

Du, Xu (ORCID:0000000332004391); Tricker, Andrew W.; Yang, Weisheng; Katahira, Rui; Liu, Wei; Kwok, Thomas T.; Gogoi, Parikshit; Deng, Yulin

doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c08448

DOE OSTI · 1808680

Oxidative Catalytic Fractionation and Depolymerization of Lignin in a One-Pot Single-Catalyst System

Du, Xu (ORCID:0000000332004391)·Tricker, Andrew W.·Yang, Weisheng·Katahira, Rui·Liu, Wei·Kwok, Thomas T.·Gogoi, Parikshit·Deng, Yulin

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Abstract

It has been known that the yield of lignin monomers during lignin depolymerization is limited by the irreversible condensations of lignin in the fractionation and/or depolymerization process. In this study, we report a new oxidative catalytic fractionation (OCF) process with a simple and effective one-pot but two-step approach to depolymerize lignin to lignin-derived chemicals (LDCs) using polyoxometalate (POM) as the only catalyst. First, the POM effectively catalyzed the methoxylation of the active a-OH groups of lignin in a methanol and water mixture at low temperature (100 °C), and 96% of the stabilized lignin in the lignocellulose sawdust was extracted to the solution simultaneously. Then the lignin solution was heated to an elevated temperature (140 °C) in the same solvent. As a result, 74.0 wt % of the lignin (based on the weight of the Klason lignin in the wood) was converted to LDCs, including 45.9 wt % aromatic monomers.

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29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY lignin depolymerization lignin-first oxidative catalytic fractionation polyoxometalate sustainable chemistry

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Du, Xu (ORCID:0000000332004391), Tricker, Andrew W., Yang, Weisheng, Katahira, Rui, Liu, Wei, Kwok, Thomas T., Gogoi, Parikshit, Deng, Yulin. 2021-05-27. Oxidative Catalytic Fractionation and Depolymerization of Lignin in a One-Pot Single-Catalyst System. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c08448

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