Synthesis of ethanol from aryl methyl ether/lignin, CO2 and H2

Jingjing Zhang; Qingli Qian; Ying Wang; Bernard Baffour Asare Bediako; Jiang Yan; Buxing Han

doi:10.1039/c9sc03386f

Synthesis of ethanol from aryl methyl ether/lignin, CO₂ and H₂

Chem Sci. 2019 Oct 2;10(45):10640-10646. doi: 10.1039/c9sc03386f. eCollection 2019 Dec 7.

Authors

Jingjing Zhang^{1

2}, Qingli Qian^{1

3}, Ying Wang^{1

2}, Bernard Baffour Asare Bediako^{1

2}, Jiang Yan^{1

2}, Buxing Han^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences , CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid, Interface and Chemical Thermodynamics , CAS Research/Education Center for Excellence in Molecular Sciences , Institute of Chemistry , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190 , China . Email: qianql@iccas.ac.cn ; Email: hanbx@iccas.ac.cn.
² School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049 , China.
³ Physical Science Laboratory , Huairou National Comprehensive Science Center , No. 5 Yanqi East Second Street , Beijing 101400 , China.
⁴ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes , School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering , East China Normal University , Shanghai 200062 , China.

Abstract

Currently, ethanol is produced via hydration of ethene or fermentation of foods. Lignin and CO₂ are abundant, cheap and renewable feedstocks. Synthesis of ethanol using the lignin or its derivatives is of great importance, but is a great challenge and has rarely been reported. Herein, we propose a route to synthesize ethanol from CO₂, H₂, and lignin or various aryl methyl ethers, which can be derived from lignin. The reaction could be effectively conducted using Ru-Co bimetallic catalyst and the TON of ethanol could reach 145. Interestingly, ethanol was the only liquid product when lignin was used. A series of control experiments indicate that ethanol was formed via cleavage of aryl ether bond, reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction, and C-C bond formation. This protocol opens a way to produce ethanol using abundant renewable resources.