UNS:Catalytic Deoxygenation of Lignin Derived Compounds for the Production of Aromatics

该提案旨在了解并进一步开发一种相对较新的金属碳化物催化剂，用于将木质生物质材料选择性催化转化为有用的化学品。目前，生物质原料的精制是一个复杂的、能源密集型的过程。拟议的工作旨在通过改进催化剂设计和将中间产品选择性地转化为高价值化学品来提高转化过程的效率。这项工作将有助于使生物精炼工艺与现有的石油精炼工艺更具竞争力，从而有助于在可持续的化学和能源未来方面取得进展。这项研究将利用金属碳化物催化剂将一系列木质素衍生的单体转化为芳香族化合物。它的灵感来自于同一小组的初步结果，显示苯甲醚的碳转化率超过80%，并在大约60小时内保持稳定的投产时间。这项拟议的工作将更详细地了解速率常数、现场要求以及催化剂结构和组成之间的关系，所有这些都可以用于开发改进的金属碳化物催化剂。为此，研究人员将开发金属碳化物催化剂的合成和表征协议，然后确定选择性碳氧键断裂的活性中心和机会，以生产高价值的芳香族产品。虽然这项建议是专门针对金属碳化物催化剂，用于木质素热解中间体的升级，但它可能会通过提供一个框架来考虑在具有一系列表面功能的材料上的催化作用，以及涉及同样复杂的分子的反应，从而推动该领域的发展。催化剂合成工作将与结构和化学表征数据以及严格的动力学数据相结合，以更好地了解优化催化剂以攻击特定键并选择性地生产特定产品的挑战和机会。国际和平协会制定了相应的教育和推广方案，在从大学校友到小学到高中生的广泛社区中提高对可持续化学和可再生能源的认识。

The proposal seeks to understand and further develop a relatively new class of metal carbide catalysts for the selective catalytic conversion of woody biomass material to useful chemicals. Refining of biomass material is presently a complicated and energy intensive process. The proposed work aims to make the conversion process more efficient by improving catalyst design and targeting the selective conversion of intermediate products to high-value chemicals. The work will help make bio-refining processes more competitive with existing petroleum refining processes, and thereby aid progress toward a sustainable chemical and energy future. The research will examine the conversion of a set of lignin-derived monomers to aromatic compounds utilizing metal carbide catalysts. It is inspired by preliminary results from the same group showing greater than 80% carbon conversion of anisole to benzene with stable time-on-stream performance for approximately 60 hours. The proposed work will obtain more detailed understanding of the rate constants, site requirements, and relationships between catalyst structure and composition, all of which can be used to develop improved metal carbide catalysts. To this end, the researchers will develop synthesis and characterization protocols for metal carbide catalysts, and then identify active sites and opportunities for selective carbon-oxygen bond cleavage to produce high-value aromatic products. Although this proposal is directed specifically at metal carbide catalysts for upgrading intermediates of lignin pyrolysis, it potentially will advance the field by providing a framework for thinking about catalysis on materials exhibiting a range of surface functionalities, and reactions involving equally complex molecules. The catalyst synthesis work, combined with structural and chemical characterization data, and rigorous kinetic data, will be integrated to obtain better understanding of the challenges and opportunities for optimizing catalysts to attack specific bonds and selectively produce specific products. The PI has developed corresponding educational and outreach programs that increase awareness of sustainable chemistry and renewable energy across a broad community ranging from university alumni to elementary through high school students.