

They were trying various metals under acidic conditions, when they discovered that acid without metals gave the best result. "Under these conditions, the aromatics formed in significantly higher yields than anyone has observed previously," notes Rahimi.



Any process that competes in industry must be economical, and Stahl says avoiding metals in the process is one of several advantages. "The mild conditions, with relatively low temperatures (110 degrees Celsius/230 degrees Fahrenheit) and low pressures, as well as the lack of need for expensive metal catalysts, makes it different from many other approaches."



Stahl concedes that the chemicals they obtain from their process still require further manipulation before they have real market value. "But we have a head start on this, because we know the main products that we're making," Stahl says.



He is referring to the work of collaborator Josh Coon, a professor of chemistry and co-author of the Nature report. "Lignin is a complex polymer, and we didn't know how easy it would be to identify the products of this process," says Coon.