The efficient utilization of lignin, the direct source of renewable aromatics, into value-added renewable chemicals is an important step towards sustainable biorefinery practices. Nevertheless, owing to the random heterogeneous structure and limited solubility, lignin utilization has been primarily limited to burning for energy. The catalytic depolymerization of lignin has been proposed and demonstrated as a viable route to sustainable biorefinery, however, low yields and poor selectivity of products, high char formation, poor bioavailability of intermediates/products, and limited to no recycling of transition-metal-based catalyst involved in lignin depolymerization demands attention to enable practical-scale lignocellulosic biorefineries.
The Catalytic Lignin Deploymerization team focuses on developing solutions to above mentioned issues through a) robust catalyst design and development, b) understanding lignin depolymerization over catalytic sites for controlled product profile, c) implementation of computation tools to understand lignin chemistry, and finally tuning lignin depolymerization into bioavailable molecules.
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
- Lignin deconstruction by anaerobic fungi Nature Microbiology (2023)
- Funneled Depolymerization of Ionic Liquid‐Based Biorefinery “Heterogeneous” Lignin into Guaiacols over Reusable Palladium Catalyst Chemistry – A European Journal (2023)
- Multiscale molecular simulations for the solvation of lignin in ionic liquids Scientific Reports (2023)
- Enhanced microbial production of protocatechuate from engineered sorghum using an integrated feedstock-to-product conversion technology Green Chemistry (2023)
- Perspective on oligomeric products from lignin depolymerization: their generation, identification, and further valorization Industrial Chemistry & Materials (2023)
- Finding values in lignin: A promising yet under-utilized component of the lignocellulosic biomass Frontiers in Chemical Engineering (2022)
- Depolymerization of lignin for biological conversion through sulfonation and a chelator-mediated Fenton reaction Green Chemistry (2022)
- Prediction of solubility parameters of lignin and ionic liquids using multi-resolution simulation approaches Green Chemistry (2022)
- Towards understanding of delignification of grassy and woody biomass in cholinium-based ionic liquids Green Chemistry (2021)
Related Intellectual Properties
- Depolymerization of lignin using a supported metal catalyst
- Novel Method to Depolymerize Lignin through Sulfonation and Chelator-mediated Fenton Reactions
- Chelator-Mediated Fenton (CMF) Process to Transform Lignin into a Water-Soluble Polymer without Need for Separation or Concentration Steps
- Depolymerizing Lignin Using a Chelator-Mediated Fenton Reaction
- Converting Lignin to Ionic Liquids without Reductive Amination
- Low Temperature Lignin Dissolution, Depolymerization
- Metal Chloride Deep Eutectic Solvents for Economical Biomass Fractionation