超・亜臨界流体技術によるリグニンの分解

抄録

Supercritical and subcritical fluids have received an attention as environmentally benign reaction fields for the conversion of lignocellulosics into useful chemicals and fuels so as to mitigate environmental issues. Molecules in the supercritical fluid have high kinetic energy like a gas and high density like a liquid, in which chemical reactions are enhanced. We can drastically change the properties of the supercritical fluid such as ionic product and dielectric constant, which are important parameters for chemical reactions, by controlling temperature and pressure. Therefore, the reaction between ionic field and radical field can be realized. For example, the ionic product of supercritical water becomes high when the temperature and pressure are increased and the hydrolysis reaction field is thus performed without any catalyst. In this paper, the recent progress in supercritical and subcritical fluid technologies was introduced focusing on the decomposition of lignin.