Cu-Mo doped zeolite ZSM-5 catalyzed conversion of lignin to alkyl phenols with high selectivity

Lignin conversion processes experience challenging issues including char formation, lower degree of depolymerization and lower product yield with no selectivity. Zeolite ZSM-5 was loaded with Cu and Mo using the reductive deposition-precipitation method. The metal loaded into ZSM-5 was found to be amorphous and nanostructured as confirmed by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The lignin conversion products were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. We demonstrate here the one-pot Cu/Mo loaded zeolite ZSM-5 catalyzed conversion of lignin into alkyl phenols with highly minimized char formation. The process yields alkyl phenols with high conversion (95.7%) and high selectivity of up to 70. 3% for a particular phenol.