Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
A new N and P co-doped porous carbon (PNC) supported Ru catalyst (Ru/PNC) was constructed for highly efficient hydrogenolysis of lignin, in which PNC was prepared using enzymatically hydrolyzed lignin as the carbon source, phytic acid as the phosphorus source, and melamine as the nitrogen source. The introduction of P greatly increased the mesoporous and macroporous network of the catalyst. The hierarchical porous structure of Ru/PNC and the enhanced metal-support interactions by synergistic effect of N and P heteroatoms enabled Ru active centers to uniformly disperse with small particle size on the support. In addition, the N, P co-doping provided with strong Lewis acidity, high porosity, and high specific surface area, facilitated adsorption of lignin onto active sites of supports. This reduced the dissociation energy between lignin structural units, thereby showing the higher activity of hydrogenolysis of lignin. Under the optimal conditions, Ru/PNC contributed to 37.1% aromatic monomers yield from lignin hydrogenolysis, which outperformed Ru/NC (25.6%) and Ru/AC (15.1%). Moreover, Ru/PNC maintained high activity and structural stability after 5 cycles. This work provides a new approach for constructing efficient catalysts for depolymerizing lignin.
Zhang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.