Alkali Lignin Catalytic Hydrogenolysis with Biofuel Production

Abstract In this paper synthesized palladium (Pd)-containing catalysts were used in the hydrogenolysis of lignin in the presence of a hydrogen donor solvent, i-propanol, to obtain liquid fuel components. A study of the influence of the catalyst support nature, catalyst preparation method and supercritical solvent nature on the lignin depolymerization was completed. It was found that the use of Pd-containing catalysts results in the formation of aromatic compounds (mainly benzene and toluene) for both supercritical solvents used (i-propanol and CO2). The maximum conversion of lignin (50 %) was achieved when the supercritical i-propanol was used and maximum selectivity to aromatics (over 70 %) was observed in the presence of the Pd-containing catalyst synthesized by hydrothermal deposition on the polymeric matrix of hyper-crosslinked polystyrene.