Continuous hydrodeoxygenation of lignin to jet-range aromatic hydrocarbons

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is essential to decrease the carbon footprint of the aviation industry. Although many strategies have been developed to provide the linear and branched aliphatic com-ponents of SAF, few viable strategies have been demonstrated to supply the aromatic and cycloalkane fraction of the SAF at the necessary scale from bio-based feedstocks. Lignin is the largest nat-ural source of renewable aromatic compounds; however, major chal-lenges in deoxygenation have prevented its use as a feedstock for SAFs. Here, we report a continuous, two-stage catalytic process us-ing molybdenum carbide to deoxygenate lignin from poplar into ar-omatic hydrocarbons with 87.5% selectivity toward aromatic hydro-carbons at 86% of the theoretical carbon recovery. Tier a fuel property testing indicates that the SAF-range lignin-derived aro-matic compounds are likely performance-advantaged across multi-ple properties relative to conventional jet fuel aromatic compounds. This work demonstrates an effective approach to convert lignin into aromatic SAF blendstocks.

Automated summary

This study reports a continuous, two-stage catalytic process using molybdenum carbide to convert lignin into aromatic hydrocarbons. The results show high selectivity and carbon recovery. Tier a fuel property testing indicates that the lignin-derived aromatic compounds may have performance advantages over conventional jet fuel aromatic compounds.