Catalytic hydrothermal reforming of lignin in aqueous alkaline medium

This paper proposes catalytic hydrothermal reforming (CHTR) for producing substitute natural gas (SNG) directly from a lignin in aqueous alkaline media, which can fully dissolve the lignin but stabilize it, lowering the reactivity toward water. Among catalysts preliminarily tested, activated-carbon-supported ruthenium (Ru/AC) catalysts showed the highest activity in terms of reduction of the total organic carbon concentration (TOC) in the aqueous solution. CHTR of a lignin was performed employing a 5000 ppm TOC solution of 0.1 M Na ₂CO₃ in a continuous reactor. The presence of Na ₂CO₃ in the solution enabled delivery of the lignin, which is poorly soluble in water, to the reactor as well as suppression of char formation during CHTR. A Ru/AC showed its ability to maintain 98.6% conversion of the lignin at 350 C even under the alkaline environment for a duration of at least 10 h, with colorless effluent liquid containing 70 ppm TOC of organic carbon. A low content of Ru in the Ru/AC resulted in an insufficient yield of gas because of the deposition of a portion of the lignin as coke over the catalyst, while 20 wt % Ru was enough for the full conversion into gas composed mainly of CH₄, with cold gas efficiency (CGE) of 100.4% on a higher heating value (HHV) basis. The resulting aqueous solution of Na ₂CO₃ was ready to be reused for CHTR after removal of carbonate ions derived from the lignin by aeration.