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RESEARCH PRODUCT
High-Temperature Electrolysis of Kraft Lignin for Selective Vanillin Formation
Wolfgang SchadeLorenzo L. QuadriAndreas StengleinMichael ZirbesManuel BreinerSiegfried R. WaldvogelAlexander Bommsubject
Kraft ligninRenewable Energy Sustainability and the EnvironmentChemistryGeneral Chemical EngineeringVanillinVanillin formation02 engineering and technologyGeneral ChemistryRaw material010402 general chemistry021001 nanoscience & nanotechnologyElectrosynthesisPulp and paper industrycomplex mixtures01 natural sciences0104 chemical scienceschemistry.chemical_compoundHigh-temperature electrolysisEnvironmental ChemistryLignin0210 nano-technologyRenewable resourcedescription
Lignin represents the largest renewable resource of aromatic moieties on earth and harbors a huge potential as a sustainable feedstock for the synthesis of biobased aromatic fine chemicals. Due to the complex, heterogeneous, and robust chemical structure of the biopolymer, the valorization is associated with significant challenges. Unfortunately, technical lignins, which are a large side stream of the pulp and paper industries, are mainly thermally exploited. In this study, technical Kraft lignin was selectively electrochemically depolymerized to the aroma chemical vanillin. Using electricity, toxic and/or expensive oxidizers could be replaced. The electrodegradation of Kraft lignin was performed at 160 °C in a simple undivided high-temperature electrolysis cell and studied in respect to several reaction parameters. At optimized electrolytic conditions vanillin could be obtained in high selectivity with 67% efficiency compared to the common nitrobenzene oxidation. Additionally, the established high-temperature electrolysis indicated a reliable process and could be easily adapted to a variety of different Kraft lignins.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-04-21 | ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering |