Chemicals from Lignin: A Review of Catalytic Conversion Involving Hydrogen

Abstract

Lignin is the most abundant biopolymer with aromatic building blocks and its valorization to sustainable chemicals and fuels has extremely great potential to reduce the excessive dependence on fossil resource, but remains challenging. The purpose of this review is to present the insights into the catalytic conversion of lignin involving hydrogen, including reductive depolymerization and the hydrodeoxygenation of lignin‐derived monomers to arenes, cycloalkanes and phenols, mainly focuses on the catalyst systems and reaction mechanisms. The roles of hydrogenation sites (Ru, Pt, Pd and Rh) and oxophilic sites (Nb, Ti and Mo) as well as their interaction in the selective hydrodeoxygenation reactions are emphatically discussed. Furthermore, some inspirational strategies for the production of other value‐added chemicals are mentioned. Finally, some personal perspectives are provided at the end of this review to highlight the opportunities within this attractive field.