skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Antimicrobial Properties of Corn Stover Lignin Fractions Derived from Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenolysis in Supercritical Ethanol with a Ru/C Catalyst

Journal Article · · ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

Converting lignin to value-added products at high yields provides an avenue for making ethanol biorefineries more profitable while reducing the carbon footprint of products generally derived from petroleum. In this study, corn stover lignin was depolymerized by catalytic transfer hydrogenolysis (CTH) in supercritical ethanol with a Ru/C catalyst. The lignin-derived bio-oil was then sequentially extracted utilizing hexane, petroleum ether, chloroform, and ethyl acetate as solvents in order of less polar to polar, and the subsequent bio-oils were characterized using GPC, GC/MS, and HSQC NMR. In this work, results show that the monomers in the bio-oil fractions contained primarily alkylated phenols, hydrogenated hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, syringol and guaiacol-type lignins created from reductive cleavages of ether linkages, which were sequentially extracted into groups depending on the solvent polarity. The antimicrobial properties of the bio-oils were screened against Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus amylovorus, and Staphylococcus epidermidis) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) by examining microbial growth inhibition. Results show that CTH-derived bio-oils inhibited all tested organisms at concentrations less than 3 mg/mL. Total monomer concentration and the presence of specific monomers (i.e., syringyl propane) showed correlations to antimicrobial activity, likely due to cell death or membrane damage. This study provides insights into using sequential extraction to fractionate lignin-derived compounds and correlations between the properties of the extracted compounds and their antimicrobial activity.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office; National Science Foundation (NSF); National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA); USDA
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1760677
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5100-77631; MainId:29557; UUID:615063a0-44c3-4c5d-94d5-6fd725b201af; MainAdminID:19142
Journal Information:
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Vol. 8, Issue 50; ISSN 2168-0485
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (62)

Selective separation of aromatic hydrocarbons through supported liquid membranes based on ionic liquids journal January 2005
Hydrothermal degradation of alkali lignin to bio-phenolic compounds in sub/supercritical ethanol and water–ethanol co-solvent journal June 2012
Recovery of renewable phenolic fraction from pyrolysis oil journal February 2012
Bright Side of Lignin Depolymerization: Toward New Platform Chemicals journal January 2018
Catalytic Depolymerization of Lignin in Supercritical Ethanol journal May 2014
Sequential Extraction and Characterization of Lignin-Derived Compounds from Thermochemically Processed Biorefinery Lignins journal March 2019
Liquid–Liquid Extraction of Biomass Pyrolysis Bio-oil journal February 2014
Lignin Depolymerization and Conversion A Review of Thermochemical Methods journal November 2010
Antimicrobial and Antiradical Activity of Extracts Obtained from Leaves of Five Species of the Genus Bergenia: Identification of Antimicrobial Compounds journal September 2017
Separation of phthalate esters from bio-oil derived from rice husk by a basification–acidification process and column chromatography journal January 2011
Selective production of 4-ethylphenolics from lignin via mild hydrogenolysis journal August 2012
Bamboo biochar-catalytic degradation of lignin under microwave heating journal March 2020
Lignin depolymerization over Ni/C catalyst in methanol, a continuation: effect of substrate and catalyst loading journal January 2015
Study on Solvent Extraction of Fast Pyrolysis Bio-Oil journal August 2011
Peroxidase-dependent cross-linking reactions of p-hydroxycinnamates in plant cell walls journal January 2004
High-Efficiency Liquid Chromatographic Separation Utilizing Long Monolithic Silica Capillary Columns journal November 2008
Naturally Occurring Phenolic Antibacterial Compounds Show Effectiveness against Oral Bacteria by a Quantitative Structure−Activity Relationship Study journal December 2008
Lignin depolymerization (LDP) in alcohol over nickel-based catalysts via a fragmentation–hydrogenolysis process journal January 2013
Recent Efforts to Prevent Undesirable Reactions From Fractionation to Depolymerization of Lignin: Toward Maximizing the Value From Lignin journal September 2018
Hydro- and solvothermolysis of kraft lignin for maximizing production of monomeric aromatic chemicals journal March 2016
Ionophore resistance of ruminal bacteria and its potential impact on human health journal April 2003
Antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antimutagenic properties of technical lignins and their applications journal February 2016
Effects of Sugars, Furans, and their Derivatives on Hydrodeoxygenation of Biorefinery Lignin‐Rich Wastes to Hydrocarbons journal July 2018
Cell membrane damage induced by phenolic acids on wine lactic acid bacteria journal October 2009
Catalytic transfer hydrogenolysis of ionic liquid processed biorefinery lignin to phenolic compounds journal January 2017
Predicting lignin depolymerization yields from quantifiable properties using fractionated biorefinery lignins journal January 2017
Lignin-based polyurethane doped with carbon nanotubes for sensor applications: Lignin-based polyurethane doped with carbon nanotubes journal January 2012
Catalytic disassembly of an organosolv lignin via hydrogen transfer from supercritical methanol journal January 2010
Reductive Catalytic Fractionation of Corn Stover Lignin journal October 2016
Chemical Composition, Antioxidant, and Antibacterial Activity of Wood Vinegar from Litchi chinensis journal August 2016
Acetic Acid Recovery from Fast Pyrolysis Oil. An Exploratory Study on Liquid-Liquid Reactive Extraction using Aliphatic Tertiary Amines journal August 2008
Characterization and Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenolysis of Deep Eutectic Solvent Extracted Sorghum Lignin to Phenolic Compounds journal June 2018
Lipid Production from Dilute Alkali Corn Stover Lignin by Rhodococcus Strains journal January 2017
Techno-economic analysis for incorporating a liquid-liquid extraction system to remove acetic acid into a proposed commercial scale biorefinery journal July 2016
Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms: importance and implications journal July 2001
Understanding Low-Pressure Hydropyrolysis of Lignin Using Deuterated Sodium Formate journal August 2017
Base-Catalyzed Depolymerization of Biorefinery Lignins journal December 2015
Polyether ionophores: broad-spectrum and promising biologically active molecules for the control of drug-resistant bacteria and parasites journal February 2009
High-yield and high-calorific bio-oil production from concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis lignin in supercritical ethanol journal May 2016
Catalytic Hydrogenolysis of Aryl Ethers: A Key Step in Lignin Valorization to Valuable Chemicals journal February 2015
Catalytic in Situ Hydrogenolysis of Lignin in Supercritical Ethanol: Effect of Phenol, Catalysts, and Reaction Temperature journal March 2018
Antibacterial and antifungal activities of pyroligneous acid from wood of Eucalyptus urograndis and Mimosa tenuiflora journal December 2017
Lignin pyrolysis reactions journal January 2017
Effect of solvent evaporation method on phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity of Moringa oleifera cultivated in Southern Tunisia journal March 2020
Mode of antimicrobial action of vanillin against Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus plantarum and Listeria innocua journal July 2004
Antimicrobial Activity of Vanillin against Spoilage Microorganisms in Stored Fresh-Cut Mangoes journal July 2006
Matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry analysis for characterization of lignin oligomers using cationization techniques and 2,5‐dihydroxyacetophenone (DHAP) matrix journal March 2019
Storage Effect on Phenols and on the Antioxidant Activity of Extracts from Anemopsis californica and Inhibition of Elastase Enzyme journal January 2015
Antibiotic properties of lignin components journal December 1979
Techno‐economic analysis of jet‐fuel production from biorefinery waste lignin journal December 2018
Recent Advances in Characterization of Lignin Polymer by Solution-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Methodology journal January 2013
Phenolic Compounds in Antimicrobial Therapy journal October 2017
Ethanol as capping agent and formaldehyde scavenger for efficient depolymerization of lignin to aromatics journal January 2015
Formaldehyde stabilization facilitates lignin monomer production during biomass depolymerization journal October 2016
Preventing Lignin Condensation to Facilitate Aromatic Monomer Production journal August 2019
Separation of chemical groups from bio-oil water-extract via sequential organic solvent extraction journal January 2017
Spores of Bacillus subtilis: their resistance to and killing by radiation, heat and chemicals journal September 2006
Catalytic transfer hydrogenolysis as an efficient route in cleavage of lignin and model compounds journal October 2018
Peracetic Acid Depolymerization of Biorefinery Lignin for Production of Selective Monomeric Phenolic Compounds journal July 2016
Antibacterial Activity and Membrane-Disruptive Mechanism of 3-p-trans-Coumaroyl-2-hydroxyquinic Acid, a Novel Phenolic Compound from Pine Needles of Cedrus deodara, against Staphylococcus aureus journal August 2016
Towards high-yield lignin monomer production journal January 2017
Modeling bacterial contamination of fuel ethanol fermentation journal May 2009