From Lignin to Valuable Aromatic Chemicals: Lignin Depolymerization and Monomer Separation via Centrifugal Partition Chromatography

Alherech, Manar; Omolabake, Surajudeen; Holland, Christopher M.; Klinger, Gracielou E.; Hegg, Eric L.; Stahl, Shannon S.

doi:10.1021/acscentsci.1c00729

Title: From Lignin to Valuable Aromatic Chemicals: Lignin Depolymerization and Monomer Separation via Centrifugal Partition Chromatography

Journal Article · 27 October 2021 · ACS Central Science

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.1c00729 · OSTI ID:1827762

Alherech, Manar ^[1]; Omolabake, Surajudeen ^[1]; Holland, Christopher M. ^[1]; Klinger, Gracielou E. ^[2];

^[2];

^[1]

Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)

Lignin has long been recognized as a potential feedstock for aromatic molecules; however, most lignin depolymerization methods create a complex mixture of products. The present study describes an alkaline aerobic oxidation method that converts lignin extracted from poplar into a collection of oxygenated aromatics, including valuable commercial compounds such as vanillin and p-hydroxybenzoic acid. Centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) is shown to be an effective method to isolate the individual compounds from the complex product mixture. The liquid–liquid extraction method proceeds in two stages. The crude depolymerization mixture is first subjected to ascending-mode extraction with the Arizona solvent system L (pentane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water 2:3:2:3), enabling isolation of vanillin, syringic acid, and oligomers. The remaining components, syringaldehyde, vanillic acid, and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (pHBA), were resolved by using ascending-mode extraction with solvent mixture comprising dichloromethane/methanol/water (10:6:4) separation. These results showcase CPC as an effective technology that could provide scalable access to valuable chemicals from lignin and other biomass-derived feedstocks.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0018409

OSTI ID:: 1827762

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1832851

Journal Information:: ACS Central Science, Vol. 7, Issue 11; ISSN 2374-7943

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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