A review on recent trends in selective hydrodeoxygenation of lignin derived molecules

Abstract

A review of recent reports that focus on the selective hydrodeoxygenation of lignin biomass derived aromatic compounds is presented. Obtaining high value chemical feedstocks and fuels from lignin is recognized as an essential aspect of the economic feasibility of biorefineries. Lignin is both a non-edible part of biomass and a potential source of aromatic commodity chemicals. The selective catalytic conversion of lignin derived compounds to deoxygenated aromatic molecules represents the most direct route towards high value chemicals while also maximizing hydrogen use efficiency. This review aims to give an overview of reports within the last 3–4 years that have focused on the selective hydrodeoxygenation of lignin derived or lignin inspired oxygenated aromatic compounds. Many of these lignin derived dimers and monomers can be selectively obtained via reductive catalytic fractionation (RCF) of native lignin, thus a section of this review is dedicated to recent advancements of RCF. The observed trends with respect to catalyst composition and reaction conditions in these reports along with an outlook for selective catalytic hydrodeoxygenation is presented.