Biomass Conversion
Biomass is a promising feedstock for the production of fuels and chemicals. Lignin, a major component of wood and other lignocellulotic biomass is particularly interesting, since it is currently a waste material and has a chemical structure suitable for conversion into aromatic compounds.
Lignin can be depolymerized into its constituents by catalytic fast pyrolysis (i.e. rapid heating in the absence of oxygen). We use a combination of catalytic fast pyrolysis and the pyrolysis of model compounds to investigate the underlying mechanism of lignin depolymerization, and to improve the process based on a rational understanding of the mechanism.
The pyrolysis setup used to investigate lignin depolymerization in the laboratory.