Green Bisphenol A: A High Valued Building Block Isolated from Lignin Biowaste

摘要

Isolation of high-value chemicals from lignin has been a field of interest over the last few decades driven by growing environmental concerns. This study reports isolation of pyrolysate from the lab scale setup and further purification of it to be used in synthesis of bisphenol A (BPA), a high value building block used in a wide range of plastic materials. Kraft lignin from three different feedstocks were evaluated at different pyrolysis temperature conditions and a correlation between the pyrolysis conditions and yield of phenolics is presented. Phenolics were extracted and purified from the pyrolysate and then used for BPA synthesis. The reaction mixture after the BPA reaction was purified by column chromatography followed by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The phenol and BPA were isolated with more than 70% purity. The purified phenolics and BPA were analyzed by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry (GC-MS), HPLC and 'H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.