A Review of Microwave Assisted Liquefaction of Lignin in Hydrogen Donor Solvents: Effect of Solvents and Catalysts

Minghao Zhou, Junming Xu, Jianchun Jiang and Brajendra K. Sharma
Additional contact information
Minghao Zhou: Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), No.16, Suojin Five Village, Nanjing 210042, China
Junming Xu: Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), No.16, Suojin Five Village, Nanjing 210042, China
Jianchun Jiang: Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), No.16, Suojin Five Village, Nanjing 210042, China
Brajendra K. Sharma: Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, Prairie Research Institute, One Hazelwood Dr. Champaign, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: Lignin, a renewable source of aromatic chemicals in nature, has attracted increasing attention due to its structure and application prospect. Catalytic solvolysis has developed as a promising method for the production of value-added products from lignin. The liquefaction process is closely associated with heating methods, catalysts and solvents. Microwave assisted lignin liquefaction in hydrogen donor solvent with the presence of catalysts has been confirmed to be effective to promote the production of liquid fuels or fine chemicals. A great number of researchers should be greatly appreciated on account of their contributions on the progress of microwave technology in lignin liquefaction. In this study, microwave assisted liquefaction of lignin in a hydrogen donor solvent is extensively overviewed, concerning the effect of different solvents and catalysts. This review concludes that microwave assisted liquefaction is a promising technology for the valorization of lignin, which could reduce the reaction time, decrease the reaction temperature, and finally fulfill the utilization of lignin in a relatively mild condition. In the future, heterogeneous catalysts with high catalytic activity and stability need to be prepared to achieve the need for large-scale production of high-quality fuels and value-added chemicals from lignin.

Keywords: microwave; lignin; hydrogen donor solvent; catalysis; liquid fuels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/11/2877/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/11/2877/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:11:p:2877-:d:177823

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().