Issue 13, 2019

Kinetic and mechanistic insights into hydrogenolysis of lignin to monomers in a continuous flow reactor

Abstract

Industrial biorefineries remain limited due to inefficient valorization of their lignin streams. Rarely can a lignin depolymerization method be combined with a current polysaccharide-centric biorefinery process. Hydrogenolysis is among the more promising methods for depolymerizing lignin on an industrial scale. We performed reaction kinetics and mechanistic studies on lignin model compounds to understand lignin hydrogenolysis pathways, demonstrating that lignin end-units and internal units react significantly differently. Understanding the reaction mechanism and its sensitivity to variables helped us establish a continuous lignin upgrading process from various fractionated lignins. Near-theoretical yields of lignin platform monomers with >80% overall product selectivity were obtained in a continuous hydrogenolysis process using a Pd/C catalyst.

Graphical abstract: Kinetic and mechanistic insights into hydrogenolysis of lignin to monomers in a continuous flow reactor

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Mar 2019
Accepted
25 Apr 2019
First published
25 Apr 2019

Green Chem., 2019,21, 3561-3572

Author version available

Kinetic and mechanistic insights into hydrogenolysis of lignin to monomers in a continuous flow reactor

Y. Li, B. Demir, L. M. Vázquez Ramos, M. Chen, J. A. Dumesic and J. Ralph, Green Chem., 2019, 21, 3561 DOI: 10.1039/C9GC00986H

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