Lignocellulose is a major source of bioenergy. The use of bio-based fuels and materials can reduce environmental emissions and also help improve the economy. To date, there have been fewer commercial applications of lignin obtained from biomass; currently, researchers are working to increase its added value globally. Among the commercial products converted to lignin, there are only a few phenolic compounds, such as ferulic acid (318 tons/year), vanillin (3000 tons/year), etc. Naphthenic hydrocarbons are key precursors in the production of nylon. Naphthanes can be mixed with conventional gasoline and have the following advantages: increased density and volumetric heating, reduced NOx emissions, and reduced particulate matter. In addition, cyclohexane is a potential solvent for extensive organic conversion and azeotropic distillation. In the current situation, the conversion of lignin to naphthenics is one of the most promising value-added options.
In order to achieve efficient conversion of lignin to cycloalkanes, catalysts need to have a high hydrodeoxidation capacity, which meets the requirements of noble metal catalyst due to its high price, can not be widely used, Ni based catalyst has a strong hydrogenation capacity, but the deoxidation capacity is insufficient, easy to produce a large number of alcohol compounds. Nickel phosphide catalyst has good hydrodeoxidation ability due to the change of electronic environment around nickel. Therefore, it is very important to develop an efficient nickel phosphide catalyst for lignin conversion to cycloalkanes.
A few days ago, the tianjin university environment YuanJi na professor team (http://catalysis.tju.edu.cn/) has developed a new type of hydrotalcite base nickel phosphide catalysts (Ni2P - Al2O3) synthesis strategy. In situ reduction of Ni2P with red phosphorus at 500℃ results in a small particle size, abundant activity and acid sites, which are conducive to the activation of substrate and H2. Ni2p-al2o3 hydrodeoxidized guaiacol at 5MPa H2 at 250℃ for 3h, achieving 100% conversion and 94.5% cyclohexane yield. Other phenolic compounds derived from lignin can also obtain corresponding alkanes with yields higher than 85%. In addition, Ni2P-al2o3 showed high hydrodeoxidation activity in depolymerization of more complex lignin structures, including lignocellulosic oil and real lignin. DFT calculation shows that the Ni(2) site highly exposed to Ni2P-al2o3 has a stronger ability to break c-OH bond during the hydrodeoxidation of guaiacol. This work has certain guiding significance for the design of efficient conversion of lignin and catalyst in the future.
Highly Selective Hydrodeoxygenation of Lignin to Naphthenes over Three Dimensional flower-like Ni2P Derived from Hydrotalcite "has been published in the internationally renowned journalACS CatalysisIF:13.084) and has been selected as a cover paper. The first (or co-first) authors of this paper are Jia Zhichao and Ji Na, PhD students of the College of Environmental Sciences, and the corresponding (or co-corresponding) authors are Ji Na (Tianjin University), Song Chunfeng (Tianjin University), and Li Changzhi (Dalian Institute of Chemical Engineering).
ACS Catalysis (IF:13.084), and was selected as a cover paper. The first (or co-first) authors of this paper are Jia Zhichao and Ji Na, PhD students of the College of Environmental Sciences, and the corresponding (or co-corresponding) authors are Ji Na (Tianjin University), Song Chunfeng (Tianjin University), and Li Changzhi (Dalian Institute of Chemical Engineering).
Prof. Ji na's team has long been committed to the catalytic conversion of biomass to biofuels and chemicals. In recent years, she has published more than 70 SCI research papers in international high-level academic journals, including 10 cover papers, with an H-index of 28. Included: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., ACS Catalysis, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, ChemSusChem, Green Chemistry, Journal of Catalysis, Journal of Energy Chemistry, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, etc., with a total citation rate of more than 2000 times.
（Editors: Editors: Hao Linge, Wang Yunchong）
