Production of Benzoic Acid through Catalytic Transformation of Renewable Lignocellulosic Biomass

In the present work, we reported a novel route for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass (sawdust) to a high-value chemical of benzoic acid under atmospheric pressure. The transformation involved the catalytic pyrolysis of sawdust into aromatics, the decomposition of heavier alkylaromatics to toluene, and the liquid-phase oxidation of toluene-rich aromatics to benzoic acid. The production of the desired benzoic acid from the sawdust-derived aromatics, with the benzoic acid selectivity of 85.1 C-mol% and nearly complete conversion of toluene, was achieved using the MnO2/NHPI catalyst at 100 °C for 5 h. The influence of adding methanol on the catalytic conversion of sawdust to the core intermediate of toluene was also investigated in detail.