Catalytic depolymerization of lignin for liquefied fuel at mild condition by rare earth metals loading on CNT

•Rare earth metals loading on CNT presented high activity on lignin depolymerization.•High yield of liquefied fuel was obtained at mild conditions.•Ce/CNT performed a strong stability during cycles.

A series of rare earth metals supported on carbon nanotube (CNT) were tested for the catalytic depolymerization of lignin. The supported cerium (Ce) and lanthanum (La) on CNT were firstly characterized by TEM and N2-BET, respectively. The as-prepared catalysts were efficient to depolymerize lignin, whereas 86.1% liquefied fuel yield was obtained at the conditions of 260 °C, 1 h with Ce/CNT catalyst. The catalyst presented high activity even after four times recycle and the yield of liquefied fuel still kept 82.0%. The liquefied fuel were evaluated to be a premium fuel with high contents of C and H and low content of O, together with high calorific value. From these tested results, it is clear to find that Ce/CNT is an effective catalyst which can depolymerize lignin under mild conditions.