Feedstock-agnostic reductive catalytic fractionation in alcohol and alcohol–water mixtures

Abstract

Many biomass conversion technologies focus primarily on tailor-made processing conditions for a single feedstock, in contrast to developing a practical operational window for effective processing of a broad variety of...

Lignin Hydrogenolysis: Phenolic Monomers from Lignin and Associated Phenolates across Plant Clades

“…Well after performing this research and collecting these data and after producing our first-draft manuscript, an interesting paper, using another catalyst, noted similar yield trends using various types of biomass (“lignin sources”) and, to some degree, assessed pendent esters vs what we are calling “core-lignin” monomers. We also became aware of work by colleagues (Beckham’s group) that is complementary (but not overlapping) and has now been published; co-publication of this and our article might have been beneficial.…”

Counter-current chromatography for lignin monomer–monomer and monomer–oligomer separations from reductive catalytic fractionation oil

“…Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) with ethyl acetate or dichloromethane and water has been widely used to recover lignin oils and concentrate monomers after RCF reactions. 16,27,37,38 Recently, a sequential LLE approach was reported for separating monomers from oligomers. 8 This was performed by decreasing the polarity of the organic solvent phase with different ratios of heptane and ethyl acetate during multiple extraction steps.…”

“…1. We first measured the partition coefficients of common aromatic monomers in lignin oils from hardwood, softwood, and herbaceous feedstocks 27,28 using the HEMWat (hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, and water) solvent system (Table S1 †). 24 Based on the measured partition coefficients, we used the selected solvent system for CCC to separate lignin oils from poplar, pine, and corn stover, demonstrating in all cases both monomer-monomer and monomer-oligomer separations.…”

A guide to lignin valorization in biorefineries: traditional, recent, and forthcoming approaches to convert raw lignocellulose into valuable materials and chemicals

“…miscanthus, 465,478 corn stover, 472,479 wheat straw, 478,480,481 …) has been explored as well, and relatively high yields of delignification have been reported (up to ∼90%), 478 along with a yield of monophenolics that varies in the range of ∼10 –∼60% of the initial lignin content. 465,478,482…”