Oxidative pyrolysis of alkali lignin using nitrogen functionalized graphene oxide-cerium oxide nanocatalysts: Mechanistic insights thorough density functional theory

In this study, a functionalized graphene oxide-cerium oxide nanocatalysts (FGCe) with varying graphene oxide (GO) contents were prepared using an in-situ reflux method. The prepared nanocatalysts showcased improvement in the crystallinity and BET surface area values with increasing GO contents. The efficacies of prepared catalysts were investigated towards oxidative pyrolysis of alkali lignin in an ethanol-water system. Among various nanocatalyst samples, the best lignin conversion (93 %) and bio-oil yield (86 %) were achieved using 50 mg FGCe nanocatalyst (0.5 wt% GO) at 423 K and 60 min. GC-MS and ¹HNMR analyses were used to identify significant lignin conversion products, including 2-pentanone-4-hydroxy-4-methyl, 2-methoxyphenol, nonylcyclopropane, vanillin, apocynin, homovanollic acid, and benzoic acid. Kinetic studies revealed that the activation energy for lignin conversion was 24.36 kJ/mol at 423 K. Mechanistic investigations by density functional theory analysis revealed that the lignin breakdown occurred at oxygen bonds producing aromatic.