Catalytic conversion of lignin to aryl carboxylic acids with CO2 (WP1)
Host institution: Aarhus University (AU), Denmark
Application Deadline: 1st April 2020
3 PhD year position. Expected start date: Mid 2020.
Remember to read the eligibility criteria here.
Objectives:
- Development of non-precious homogeneous catalysts based on e.g. nickel for performing efficient oxidative addition into carbon–oxygen bonds for cleavage of inert starting materials
- Investigations of model lignin systems for studying the catalytic cleavage of biaryl ethers and methyl aryl ether bonds with subsequent carbon–carbon bond formation with CO2
- Performing experimental mechanistic studies for understanding the individual steps of the catalytic cycle
- Application of the developed catalytic systems with more relevant lignin molecules such as lignin oligomers
- During the secondments, scale up experiments of developed reactions to industrial settings (at HT) and evaluation of catalyst performance under immobilised heterogeneous conditions (at SU)
Expected results:
- Effective catalysts for aryl ether cleavage
- A synthetic route to aryl carboxylic acids and polymer building blocks from biomass deconstruction
- Mechanistic understanding of the factors governing aryl oxygen bond cleavage with non-precious transition metal catalysts
Planned secondment(s):
- Industrial secondment to HT with Dr. Tolborg (2 months): Optimization of reaction conditions for industrial applications (with ESR4).
- SU with Prof. Martín-Matute (3 months): Work on immobilization of single-site carboxylation catalysts into MOFs (with ESR3).
Enrolment in Doctoral degree: Aarhus University, Denmark
Principal Supervisor: Prof. Troels Skrydstrup (AU)
Questions? Write to us at co2perate@uit.no.