Title: Total Utilization of Miscanthus Biomass, Lignin and Carbohydrates, Using Earth Abundant Nickel Catalyst

Abstract

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.

Authors:

Luo, Hao ^[1]; Klein, Ian M. ^[1]; Jiang, Yuan ^[1]; Zhu, Hanyu ^[1]; Liu, Baoyuan ^[1]; Kenttämaa, Hilkka I. ^[1]; Abu-Omar, Mahdi M. ^[2]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Brown Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, and The Center for direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio), Purdue University, 560 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, United States
2. Brown Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, and The Center for direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio), Purdue University, 560 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, United States, School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering, 480 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, United States

Publication Date:

Tue Feb 02 00:00:00 EST 2016

Research Org.:

Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio); Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:

1239695

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1387646

Grant/Contract Number:  

SC000097; SC000997

Resource Type:

Published Article

Journal Name:

ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering Journal Volume: 4 Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 2168-0485

Publisher:

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Miscanthus; Lignin; Catalysis; Nickel; Ferulate; Phenolscatalysis (homogeneous); catalysis (heterogeneous); biofuels (including algae and biomass); bio-inspired; materials and chemistry by design; synthesis (self-assembly); synthesis (scalable processing)