The abundance of aromatic substituents in lignocellulose are an attractive potential source of sustainable chemical feedstocks. We previously developed a hydrotalcite derived, copper doped porous metal oxide (PMO) catalyst capable of lignocellulose liquification. This work describes our current efforts to understand the kinetic pathways of the formation of products and their dependence on the structure of the catalytically active sites. The relative hydrogenation and methylation activities were investigated through catalyzed reactions of model compounds. The products were analyzed using GC-FID and GC-MS techniques combined with global fitting. In situ methanol reformation and hydrogen transfer reactions performed in a plug flow reactor revealed that catalyst activation occurs over multiple stages. Using X-ray diffraction and absorption spectroscopy, we have identified the formation of small copper clusters during methanol reformation. We concluded that these copper clusters, formed during the second stage of activation, facilitate the subsequent hydrogenation reactions. The combination of kinetic and structural data has illustrated the potential for exploiting kinetic controls towards a more favorably aromatic product distribution. These studies are supported by the Center for the Sustainable Use of Renewable Feedstocks (CenSURF), a National Science Foundation CCI (CHE-1240194).

Probing the mechanism and structure of a lignin reducing copper doped porous metal oxide catalyst

248th National Meeting (2014)

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