Skip to main content
Article
Pre-methylation of lignin to improve storage stability of oil produced by solvent liquefaction
Energy and Fuels
  • Jae-Young Kim, Iowa State University
  • Parinaz Hafezi-Sefat, Iowa State University
  • Sarah D. Cady, Iowa State University
  • Ryan G. Smith, Iowa State University
  • Robert C. Brown, Iowa State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Submitted Manuscript
Publication Date
1-29-2019
DOI
10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b03894
Abstract

In this study, we methylated hydroxyl groups (phenolic hydroxyl: Phe-OH and aliphatic hydroxyl: Aliph-OH) in soda lignin (SL) prior to solvent liquefaction to improve storage stability of the resulting oil. We investigated two methylating reagents, dimethyl sulfate (DMS) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC), for selective Phe-OH and total hydroxyl group (Phe-OH and Aliph-OH) blocking. Samples of SL, DMS-SL, and DMC-SL were depolymerized into oils under supercritical ethanol (350 °C). Both methylated lignins produced higher amounts of oils and smaller amounts of char compared to untreated SL due to suppressed charring reactions. Oil produced from SL had relatively higher functional group contents than other oils from methylated lignins. Simulated one-year aging of oils was carried out and this revealed Mw increase of oil was the highest in SL (11.8 %), followed by DMC-SL (6.8 %) and DMC-SL (4.6 %). Interestingly, these increases showed linear correlation with decrease in Phe-OH after accelerated aging. Meanwhile, compositional difference in monomeric phenols in the oils were observed by GC/MS analysis. For example, methoxylated aromatics such as 4-ethylveratrole, 4-vinylveratrole, methylisoeugenol, and veratryl-2-propanone were detected only in oils from DMS-SL, and DMC-SL. Interestingly, there was no significant difference in monomeric compounds yields before and after accelerated aging among the oils, which suggests that repolymerization mainly occurred between oligomeric lignin fragments.

Comments

This document is the unedited Author’s version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Energy and Fuels, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b03894.

Copyright Owner
American Chemical Society
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Jae-Young Kim, Parinaz Hafezi-Sefat, Sarah D. Cady, Ryan G. Smith, et al.. "Pre-methylation of lignin to improve storage stability of oil produced by solvent liquefaction" Energy and Fuels (2019)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/robert_brown/128/