Catalytic Lignin Depolymerization

view profile for Hemant Choudhary

Hemant Choudhary

Director of Catalytic Lignin Depolymerization

view profile for Blake Simmons

Blake Simmons

Chief Science & Technology Officer and Vice President for Deconstruction

view profile for Sankar Nair

Sankar Nair

Scientific Lead, Catalytic Lignin Depolymerization

view profile for Ji Su

Ji Su

Scientific Lead, Catalytic Lignin Depolymerization

view profile for Yinglei Han

Yinglei Han

Scientific Engineer Associate

view profile for Joseph Palasz

Joseph Palasz

Postdoctoral Fellow

view profile for Xueli Chen

Xueli Chen

Postdoctoral Fellow

The efficient utilization of lignin, the primary renewable source of aromatics, into value added chemicals is a critical step toward sustainable biorefineries. However, due to lignin’s random heterogeneous structure and limited solubility, its use has largely been restricted to combustion for energy. Catalytic depolymerization has emerged as a promising route, yet major challenges remain: low yields, poor product selectivity, high char formation, limited bioavailability of intermediates and products, and little to no recycling of transition metal catalysts.

The CLD team addresses these challenges by:

a) designing and developing robust catalysts,

b) elucidating lignin depolymerization mechanisms at catalytic sites to achieve controlled product profiles,

c) applying computational tools to decode lignin chemistry, and

d) tuning and separating bioavailable molecules derived from lignin depolymerization.

 

Projects

  • Development of robust reductive and oxidative catalytic pathways for efficient lignin depolymerization
  • Develop abiotic routes to depolymerize lignin present in bioenergy crops into targeted bioavailable intermediates with at least 90% yields
  • Implementation of chemical-biological hybrid depolymerization process for maximum carbon utilization
  • Development of integrated catalytic depolymerization and separation of monomeric lignin molecules
  • Understanding of structure-activity relationships between catalytically active sites and lignin depolymerization activity through advanced characterization
  • Understanding of lignin depolymerization routes with computational tools
  • Generation of high-quality polymeric lignin and their thorough characterization
  • Implementation of catalytic methods including product analysis to assist other JBEI divisions including LEAD, Feedstocks, Deconstruction, and Biofuels and Bioproducts

Recent Publications

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