Journal
ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
Volume 4, Issue 4, Pages 2316-2322Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.5b01776
Keywords
Miscanthus; Lignin; Catalysis; Nickel; Ferulate; Phenols
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Funding
- Center for direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio), an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) - U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences [DE-SC000097]
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Lignin as a polymer of monomeric aromatic compounds retains great potential to be a source for liquid fuels and valuable chemicals. However, lignin from biomass has been traditionally treated as a waste byproduct and in most applications burned for its heat value. In this work, we report the catalytic conversion of lignin in Miscanthus into aromatic products by using earth-abundant Ni catalyst supported on activated carbon, under relatively mild conditions. The special ferulate linkage in grasses gives methyl ferulate ester and its derivatives, which were not observed for wood biomass substrates. By modification of the reaction conditions, saturated or unsaturated branched products can be obtained selectively. Optimal conditions give over 68% yield of select aromatic products from lignin. Furthermore, after lignin depolymerization and upgrading, the carbohydrates of miscanthus were recovered as a solid residue, which upon treatment with iron chloride produced useful platform chemicals (furfurals and levulinic acid). On the basis of our study, all three major components of biomass (lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose) are effectively utilized, with an overall 55% conversion of total accessible biomass into high value chemicals with 98% mass balance.
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