COMPLETE DISASSEMBLY OF LIGNIN IN PHENOL-WATER SOLVENT

摘要

Disassembly of lignin was examined in a water-phenol mixture at 673 K. No char formation was found and the 99 wt% of the products was soluble in tetrahydrofuran. We confirmed depolymerization of lignin by gel-permeation chromatography that showed smaller molecular-weight component in the product. Lignin was almost depolymerized within 6 min. The longer reaction time increased smaller molecular-weight components as low as 100 to 300. Reaction in either water or phenol resulted in the formation of char. These results indicate that water and phenol play synergetic effect in depolymerizing lignin.