Highly Dispersed Pt Nanoparticles for the Production of Aromatic Hydrocarbons by the Catalytic Degrading of Alkali Lignin

Aromatic hydrocarbons were produced from lignin, a complex natural amorphous polymer commonly regarded as by-product of the pulping process and from biofuel production. The catalytic decomposition of lignin using supported Pt catalysts was performed to produce small molecule hydrocarbons. Aromatic small-molecule hydrocarbon products were identified and quantified using GC/MS and GC-FID, which demonstrated that 27.6% of aromatic hydrocarbons were obtained from the activated carbon-supported Pt (Pt/AC) catalyst which had the highest Pt surface area.