Journal
ACS CATALYSIS
Volume 8, Issue 12, Pages 11184-11190Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.8b03430
Keywords
biomass; lignin; phenol; transalkylation; demethoxylation
Categories
Funding
- European Interreg V Flanders
- European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
- Province of Brabant
- Province of Limburg
- Dutch Ministry of Economy
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Lignocellulosic biomass is the only renewable source of carbon for the chemical industry. Alkylmethoxyphenols can be obtained in good yield from woody biomass by reductive fractionation, but these compounds are of limited value for large-scale applications. We present a method to convert lignocellulose-derived alkylmethoxyphenols to phenol that can be easily integrated in the petrochemical industry. The underlying chemistry combines demethoxylation catalyzed by a titania-supported gold nanoparticle catalyst and transalkylation of alkyl groups to a low-value benzene-rich stream promoted by HZSM-5 zeolite. In this way, phenol can be obtained in good yield, and benzene can be upgraded to more valuable propylbenzene, cumene, and toluene. We demonstrate that intimate contact between the two catalyst functions is crucial to transferring the methyl groups from the methoxy functionality to benzene instead of phenol. In a mixed-bed configuration, we achieved a yield of 60% phenol and 15% cresol from 4-propylguaiacol in a continuous one-step reaction at 350 degrees C at a weight hourly space velocity of similar to 40 h(-1).
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available