Production of Value-Added Products From Lignin by Oxidative Cracking with Aqueous Ammonia and Hydrogen Peroxide

Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Exhibit Hall B (Minneapolis Convention Center)
Chang Geun Yoo and Tae Hyun Kim, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA

Lignin is the second most abundant natural polymer on earth, which is a non-fermentable aromatic polymer; therefore, effective utilization of lignin is believed to be playing an important role in the future biorefinery industry.

Oxidative cracking of corn stover lignin using hydrogen peroxide was investigated for the production of the value-added products. Soaking in aqueous ammonia (SAA) pretreatment was used to prepare lignins because it was developed as the one of the most effective pretreatment methods, which can remove 60-70% of lignin. Lignin hydrolysate in SAA pretreatment has an advantage because the pH of hydrolysates is much higher than other hydrolysates; therefore, the oxidation reaction can occur at low temperature. In our process, oxidative cracking produced low molecular weight of carboxylic acids, aromatic acids, aldehydes, and carbon dioxide by degradation of lignin hydrolysates with hydrogen peroxide.

In this paper, various oxidative cracking conditions such as H2O2 loading, reaction time, and reaction temperature were explored to convert lignin into value-added products. Conversion of lignin into activated carbon will also be presented. 


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See more of this Session: Poster Session: Sustainability and Sustainable Biorefineries
See more of this Group/Topical: Sustainable Engineering Forum