The reduction of fossil fuel resources and the ongoing surge in global energy demand have captured the interest of researchers worldwide, prompting a focus on developing renewable energy sources. For this reason, biomass conversion has emerged as a crucial pathway for renewable fuel production. Lignin, constituting 10–35% of woody biomass, represents a significant and largely untapped sustainable feedstock. Despite the potential of lignin, a substantial portion of this lignocellulosic residue remains unused, with approximately 60% considered waste. This study addresses the challenge of underutilized lignin by introducing an innovative approach to its hydrogenolysis. Despite their potential, existing hydrogenolysis methods face obstacles such as complexity, high cost, and the need for high temperatures or pressures. Herein we report a noncatalytic nonthermal hydrogen plasma method for lignin hydrogenolysis, conducted under ambient temperature and pressure conditions. Our method proves to be highly effective in breaking lignin bonds, achieving complete conversion, and generating valuable gaseous and bio-oil products including methane and aromatic dimers and monomers obtained from guaiacyl and syringyl units within the lignin structure. Our results showed an increase in gaseous products, especially methane, and aromatic monomer yields, as well as a reduction in total bio-oil and biochar yields and lignin functional groups by increasing reaction time, input power, and H2 partial pressure. This research confirms the considerable promise of utilizing noncatalytic nonthermal hydrogen plasma-assisted hydrogenolysis as an effective technique for producing gaseous and liquid fuels from lignin.

中文翻译：

---

非热氢等离子体环境、快速木质素氢解成有价值的化学品和生物油


化石燃料资源的减少和全球能源需求的持续激增引起了全球研究人员的兴趣，促使人们专注于开发可再生能源。因此，生物质转化已成为可再生燃料生产的重要途径。木质素占木本生物量的 10-35%，是一种重要且基本上未开发的可持续原料。尽管木质素具有潜力，但这种木质纤维素残留物的很大一部分仍未使用，大约 60% 被认为是废物。本研究通过引入一种创新的氢解方法来解决木质素未充分利用的挑战。尽管具有潜力，但现有的氢解方法面临着诸如复杂性、高成本以及需要高温或高压等障碍。在此，我们报道了一种在环境温度和压力条件下进行的用于木质素氢解的非催化非热氢等离子体方法。我们的方法被证明在破坏木质素键、实现完全转化以及产生有价值的气态和生物油产品方面非常有效，包括从木质素结构内的愈创木酰基和丁香酰单元获得的甲烷和芳香族二聚体和单体。我们的结果表明，通过增加反应时间、输入功率和 H2 分压，气态产物（尤其是甲烷）和芳香族单体产量增加，以及生物油和生物炭总产量和木质素官能团减少。这项研究证实了利用非催化非热氢等离子体辅助氢解作为从木质素生产气体和液体燃料的有效技术的巨大前景。