High Acid Biochar-Based Solid Acid Catalyst from Corn Stalk for Lignin Hydrothermal Degradation
Qimeng Jiang,
Guihua Yang,
Fangong Kong,
Pedram Fatehi,
Xiaoying Wang
Affiliations
Qimeng Jiang
State Key Laboratory of Bio-based Materials and Green Papermaking Co-founded by Shandong and the Ministry of Science and Technology/Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Science & Technology of the Ministry of Education, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250353, China
Guihua Yang
State Key Laboratory of Bio-based Materials and Green Papermaking Co-founded by Shandong and the Ministry of Science and Technology/Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Science & Technology of the Ministry of Education, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250353, China
Fangong Kong
State Key Laboratory of Bio-based Materials and Green Papermaking Co-founded by Shandong and the Ministry of Science and Technology/Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Science & Technology of the Ministry of Education, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250353, China
Pedram Fatehi
State Key Laboratory of Bio-based Materials and Green Papermaking Co-founded by Shandong and the Ministry of Science and Technology/Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Science & Technology of the Ministry of Education, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250353, China
Xiaoying Wang
State Key Laboratory of Pulp & Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
Solid acid catalysts generally show the disadvantage of low acid amount and low recycling rate. To solve these problems, corn stalk-based solid acid catalysts were synthesized through carbonization and sulfonation processes in this work. The results showed that besides the rod-like structure inherited from raw corn stalk, the catalysts contained some small broken pieces on the surface, and the specific surface area varied from 1120 to 1640 m2/g. The functional groups (-SO3H) were successfully introduced onto the surface of the obtained solid acid catalysts. The acid amount varied between 1.2 and 2.4 mmol/g, which was higher than most of solid acid catalysts. The catalyst produced at 800 °C for 6 h in carbonation and then at 150 °C for 8 h in sulfonation had larger specific surface area and more sulfonate groups. In the degradation of lignin, the use of catalyst led to the generation of more aromatic compounds (65.6 wt. %) compared to that without using the catalyst (40.5 wt. %). In addition, a stable yield of reaction (85%) was obtained after four reuses. Therefore, corn stalk is suitable for high-value utilization to prepare high-acid amount biochar-based catalyst.