Heterogeneous Ni–Ru/H-ZSM-5 one-pot catalytic conversion of lignin into monophenols

Due to the inertness and structural complexity of lignin, upgrading lignin to biofuels and fine chemicals still faces great challenges. In this paper, a one-pot method was used to catalyze straw lignin with H-ZSM-5 supported by Ni and Ru bimetals, and the lignin conversion rate reached 88.1%. The yield of monophenol was 19.5%, of which the yield of 4-ethylphenol and 4-ethylguaiacol was 4.9% and 3.8%, respectively. The 2D HSQC NMR analysis confirmed that the Ni–Ru/H-ZSM-5 catalyst had an obvious activity of breaking C β -O bonds before and after the reaction. The result showed that after loading metal Ni and Ru, the Lewis acid of the catalytic system was greatly increased, which caused electron transfer between Ni and Ru. 3Ni-1.5Ru/H-ZSM-5 had the strongest activity due to the largest synergy among Ni, Ru and H-ZSM-5. The synergy was the key factor leading to the cleavage of C–C and C–O bonds in straw lignin and the high-performance catalytic degradation of lignin. Besides, the effect of reaction solvent and hydrogen resource on upgrading lignin to fine chemicals over 3Ni-1.5Ru/HZSM-5 catalyst was also intensively investigated. This research developed a method for the direct conversion of lignin into valuable monophenols.