Mechanism insight into photocatalytic conversion of lignin for valuable chemicals and fuels production: A state-of-the-art review

Huan Chen, Kun Wan, Fangjuan Zheng, Zhuo Zhang, Yayun Zhang and Donghui Long

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2021, vol. 147, issue C

Abstract: The depletion of traditional fossil fuel reserves and ever-increasing environmental problems have prompted the demand for the exploration of renewable resources. Lignin is an earth-abundant but underestimated and underutilized renewable energy source, which has the potential to replace fossil fuels for the production of value-added aromatic derivatives. Despite great efforts have been devoted, fully unlocking the potential of lignin is still far from reaching due to its complex structure and recalcitrant nature. Recently, photocatalysis provides a marvelous platform for pursuing versatile lignin transformation and has attracted growing interests from the academic community. The unique photogenerated reactive species as well as the mild reaction conditions enable the selective cleavage of targeted bond in lignin, while other functional groups remain intact. In this critical review, we attempt to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art advances in the principal photocatalytic processes applied for the conversion of lignin using various photocatalysts. This review focuses on the latest investigation of lignin conversion mechanisms with emphasis on selective C–O and C–C bond cleavage. Introduction to lignin structure, technical lignin and lignin model compounds is highlighted. In addition, general mechanisms of photocatalysis are also classified and discussed in detail. We conclude the perspective on photocatalytic transformation of lignin with an eye toward the future challenges in this field.

Keywords: Lignin; Photocatalysis; Catalytic depolymerization; Aromatics; Reaction mechanism; C–O/C–C bond Cleavage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032121005050
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:147:y:2021:i:c:s1364032121005050

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111217

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().