The Catalytic Valorization of Lignin from Biomass for the Production of Liquid Fuels

Chenchen Gui, Lida Wang, Guoshun Liu, Ajibola T. Ogunbiyi and Wenzhi Li ()
Additional contact information
Chenchen Gui: Laboratory of Clean Low-Carbon Energy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230023, China
Lida Wang: Laboratory of Clean Low-Carbon Energy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230023, China
Guoshun Liu: Laboratory of Clean Low-Carbon Energy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230023, China
Ajibola T. Ogunbiyi: Laboratory of Clean Low-Carbon Energy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230023, China
Wenzhi Li: Laboratory of Clean Low-Carbon Energy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230023, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-41

Abstract: With the overuse of fossil fuels, people are looking for alternatives. This is an area where biofuels have received a lot of attention. Studies have also shown that a large variety of liquid fuels of commercial interest can be obtained via lignin valorization. Lignin is rich in aromatic ring structures and can be used as a sustainable raw material to produce high-value energy. Therefore, progress in the preparation of liquid fuels from lignin by pyrolysis, hydro-processing, and oxidation is analyzed in this review. Nevertheless, due to the three-dimension network structure of lignin, there are many barriers that need to be surmounted before utilizing it, such as its complex connection with cellulose and hemicellulose, which makes its separation difficult. In this paper, different pretreatment methods are summarized for separating lignin from other two components. Finally, the challenges in future trends of lignin valorization are summarized and outlined. It is clear that the construction of efficient separation and catalytic systems will be the focus of future research in this field.

Keywords: biomass; lignin; pretreatment; depolymerization; liquid fuel (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: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/6/1478/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/6/1478/ (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:18:y:2025:i:6:p:1478-:d:1614296

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 ().