Slurry Hydroconversion of Solid Kraft Lignin to Liquid Products Using Molybdenum- and Iron-Based Catalysts

Journal article, 2022

Kraft lignin is an abundantly available and largely underutilized renewable material with potential for production of biobased fuels and chemicals. This study reports the results of a series of slurry hydroprocessing experiments with the aim of converting solid Kraft lignin to liquid products suitable for downstream refining in more conventional reactors. Experiments reported in this study were conducted by feeding a lignin slurry to an already hot, liquid-filled reactor to provide momentaneous heating of the lignin to the reaction temperature. This modified batch procedure provided superior results compared to the regular batch experiments, likely since unwanted repolymerization and condensation reactions of the lignin during the heating phase was avoided, and was therefore used for most of the experiments reported. Experiments were performed using both an unsupported Mo-sulfide catalyst and Fe-based catalysts (bauxite and hematite) at varied reaction temperatures, pressures, and catalyst loadings. The use of Mo-sulfide (0.1% Mo of the entire feed mass) at 425 °C and 50 bar resulted in complete conversion of the Kraft lignin to nonsolid products. Very high conversions (>95%) could also be achieved with both sulfided bauxite or hematite at the same temperature and pressure, but this required much higher catalyst loadings (6.25% bauxite or 4.3% hematite of the total feed mass), and around 99% conversion could be achieved at higher temperatures but at the expense of much higher gas yields. Although requiring much higher loadings, the results in this study suggest that comparatively nonexpensive Fe-based catalysts may be an attractive alternative for a slurry-based process aimed at the hydroconversion of solid lignin to liquid products. Possible implementation strategies for a slurry-based hydroconversion process are proposed and discussed.