Due to their diverse functional groups and structural
composition,
carbon-based catalysts exhibit superior performance in various catalytic
reaction systems, such as hydrogenolysis, hydrogenation, and oxidation.
Herein, we propose an effective strategy of lignin liquid-phase depolymerization
by applying the designed lignin-based carbon catalysts to produce
aromatic chemicals. A series of Ni–Mo bimetallic carbon-based
catalysts were synthesized to explore the effect of different preparation
methods on the catalytic activity. The results demonstrate that the
embedded Ni–Mo/C-WMO catalyst with multi-active
sites of Ni, MoO3, and Mo2C results in a prominent
catalytic effect on lignin depolymerization. The Ni–Mo/C-WMO catalyst can achieve a lignin conversion of 87.62% with
a 42.25% monophenol yield in the methanol and water system. With the
synergistic contribution of multiple active sites of the catalyst
and the mixed-solvent system (water, methanol, and 1, 4-dioxane),
a remarkably high yield of 62.95% of mono-phenolic compound was achieved
at 260 °C and 3 MPa N2 with a reaction time of 4 h.
The selectivity of 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol and 2-methoxy-4-ethylphenol
in liquid products was 40.85 and 36.42%, respectively. Vanillin, a
typical product from lignin depolymerization reported in the literature,
was further degraded to monophenol in this system. The outcomes also
confirmed that the in situ hydrogen production system of methanol
and water coupled with 1,4-dioxane facilitated the lignin depolymerization
significantly.