Depolymerization of Organosolv Lignin over Silica-alumina Catalysts

E cient conversion of lignin to fine chemicals and biofuel become more and more attractive in biorefinery. In this work, we used a series of silica-alumina catalysts (i.e., SiO₂-Al₂O₃, HY, Hβ, and HZSM-5) to degrade lignin into arenes and phenols. The relationship between the catalyst structure and lignin depolymerization performance was investigated. The results showed that both acidity and pore size of the catalyst could in uence the conversion of lignin. In the volatilizable product, phenols were identified as the main phenolic monomers via gas chromatography-mass spectrometer. SiO₂-Al₂O₃ was the most effcient catalyst, giving 90.96% degree of conversion, 12.91% yield of phenols, and 2.41% yield of arenes in ethanol at 280℃ for 4 h. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that deoxygenation and alkylation occurred in this process. The effect of solvents was also investigated and the results showed that ethanol was the most effcient solvent.