Renewable High-Purity Mono-Phenol Production from Catalytic Microwave-Induced Pyrolysis of Cellulose over Biomass-Derived Activated Carbon Catalyst

The activated carbons (ACs) enriched in P-containing functional groups were obtained through one-pot microwave-induced pyrolysis from corn stover activated with phosphoric acid and were further tested as the catalyst for selective monophenol production from cellulose pyrolysis for the first time. Maximum AC yield (44.3 wt %) was obtained with an acid to biomass ratio of 0.85. Increasing phosphoric acid to corn stover ratios could enhance the porosity and peak intensities of P-containing functional groups in obtained ACs. Attained ACs had an excellent catalytic performance in phenol production with the highest selectivity of phenol (99.02 % based on peak area) in the obtained organic compounds at the catalytic temperature of 450 °C. The catalytic performance of ACs remained highly selective for phenol after using two times. The experimental results indicated that P-containing groups such as −O–P, OP, and −O–P–O– were the active reaction sites and more mespores promoted phenol production. The phenol can be generated from reforming of levoglucosenone and furfural over AC catalysts. The present work provides an efficient route to produce high selective monophenol from cellulose pyrolysis by using activated carbons as the catalyst, which further advanced the utilization of biomass to produce high-value chemicals.