Lignin, an aromatic macromolecule, is one of three main plant cell wall components, which means that it is the second most abundant organic material, comprising ~15-30% of the dry weight of most woody and grassy plants. The abundance of lignin along with its aromatic structure similar to that of many value-added chemicals, makes lignin an ideal precursor for a diverse set of products. However, thermochemcial methods to depolymerize lignin generate wide distributions of products that have little utility in chemical production, even needing catalytic upgrading to be especially useful as transportation fuel. Thus, hydrogenolysis, the focus of this proposed work, is a promising thermochemical conversion process for lignin that could be utilized to produce a narrower product distribution suitable for chemical production. The overall project objective of this research is to investigate the effect of catalysts and process conditions on the selectively and activity of catalytic hydrogenolysis of aromatic carbon-oxygen (C-O) bonds (i.e., aryl ethers) with various noble metal on carbon support catalysts. In this talk, we will report results from the catalytic hydrogenolysis of aryl ether lignin model compounds and of industrial waste lignin for different catalyst and reaction condition.

Progress toward the mild and selective hydrogenolysis of lignin to produce chemicals

249th National Meeting (2015)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.