Selective catalytic degradation of a lignin model compound into phenol over transition metal sulfates

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 1; no. 5; pp. 313 - 319
• Main Authors: Wu, Min-ya, Lin, Jian-tao, Xu, Zhuang-qin, Hua, Tian-ci, Lv, Yuan-cai, Liu, Yi-fan, Pei, Rui-han, Wu, Qiong, Liu, Ming-hua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 16.01.2020; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Aromatic compounds; Benzyl alcohol; Benzyl phenyl ether; Catalysis; Chemistry; Lignin; Metal sulfates; Performance degradation; Phenols; Selectivity; Transition metals
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c9ra09706f

Transition metal salts were employed as the catalysts to improve the selective degradation of the α-O-4 lignin model compound (benzyl phenyl ether (BPE)) in the solvothermal system. The results concluded that most of the transition metal salts could enhance BPE degradation. Among which, NiSO 4 ·6H 2 O exhibited the highest performance on BPE degradation (90.8%) for 5 h and phenol selectivity (53%) for 4 h at 200 °C. In addition, the GC-MS analysis indicated that the intermediates during BPE degradation included a series of aromatic compounds, such as phenol, benzyl methyl ether and benzyl alcohol. Furthermore, the mechanisms for BPE degradation and phenol selectivity in the NiSO 4 ·6H 2 O system involved the synergetic effects between the acid catalysis and coordination catalysis, which caused the effective and selective cleavage of the C-O bonds. An efficient method for degradation of benzyl phenyl ether using NiSO 4 ·6H 2 O as catalyst.