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Herein, a lignin-centered convergent approach to produce either aliphatic or aromatic bio-hydrocarbons is introduced. First, poplar or spruce wood was deconstructed by a lignin-first biorefining process, a technique based on the early-stage catalytic conversion of lignin, yielding lignin oils along with cellulosic pulps. Next, the lignin oils were catalytically upgraded in the presence of a phosphidated Ni/SiO 2 catalyst under H 2 pressure. Notably, selectivity toward aliphatics or aromatics can simply be adjusted by changes in H 2 pressure and temperature. The process renders two distinct main cuts of branched hydrocarbons (gasoline: C 6 -C 10 , and kerosene/diesel: C 14 -C 20 ). As the approach is H 2 -intensive, we examined the utilization of pulp as an H 2 source via gasification. For several biomass sources, the H 2 obtainable by gasification stoichiometrically meets the H 2 demand of the deep converting lignin-first biorefinery, making this concept plausible for the production of high-energy-density drop-in biofuels.
Cao et al. (Mon,) studied this question.