Hydrothermal liquefaction of lignin to aromatic chemicals: Impact of lignin structure

TY - JOUR

T1 - Hydrothermal liquefaction of lignin to aromatic chemicals

T2 - Impact of lignin structure

AU - Cao, Yang

AU - Zhang, Cheng

AU - Tsang, Daniel C.W.

AU - Fan, Jiajun

AU - Clark, James H.

AU - Zhang, Shicheng

N1 - Funding Information: This study was supported by the International Cooperation Project of Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission (No. 18230710700), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFC0212205), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21876030), and the Royal Society International Exchanges 2016 Round 2-IE160441. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 American Chemical Society

PY - 2020/9/30

Y1 - 2020/9/30

N2 - There has been a growing interest in advanced technology that transforms biomass-derived feedstock into renewable chemicals. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of lignin into low-molecular-weight fragments (e.g., monomer, dimer, and oligomer), and subsequent catalyzed transformations, offer the promise of unlocking diverse aromatic products. In consideration of the diversity of lignin feedstocks, we shed light on the impact of variations in lignin structure on the conversion efficiency. This review aims to present the latest advances in the HTL of lignin and highlights key factors (reaction solvent, temperature, catalysts, and in particular lignin types) in reductive/oxidative processes by evaluating the yield of aromatic monomers and the selectivity of target products. The mechanistic studies based on lignin model compounds were summarized to provide deep understanding of the reaction pathways to prove the crucial roles of lignin structures and high-performance catalysts in controlling catalytic activity. Finally, we emphasize that advances in emerging HTL technology, catalyst design, and structural analysis hold promise for lignin valorization.

AB - There has been a growing interest in advanced technology that transforms biomass-derived feedstock into renewable chemicals. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of lignin into low-molecular-weight fragments (e.g., monomer, dimer, and oligomer), and subsequent catalyzed transformations, offer the promise of unlocking diverse aromatic products. In consideration of the diversity of lignin feedstocks, we shed light on the impact of variations in lignin structure on the conversion efficiency. This review aims to present the latest advances in the HTL of lignin and highlights key factors (reaction solvent, temperature, catalysts, and in particular lignin types) in reductive/oxidative processes by evaluating the yield of aromatic monomers and the selectivity of target products. The mechanistic studies based on lignin model compounds were summarized to provide deep understanding of the reaction pathways to prove the crucial roles of lignin structures and high-performance catalysts in controlling catalytic activity. Finally, we emphasize that advances in emerging HTL technology, catalyst design, and structural analysis hold promise for lignin valorization.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85094670604&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1021/acs.iecr.0c01617

DO - 10.1021/acs.iecr.0c01617

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85094670604

SN - 0888-5885

VL - 59

SP - 16957

EP - 16969

JO - Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research

JF - Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research

IS - 39

ER -