Herein, 2-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-1-phenylethanol (β-O-4), 2-methoxy phenyl anisol (α-O-4) and 4-phenoxyphenol (4-O-5) were selected as typical lignin model compounds. Given the effectiveness of traditional acid–base catalysts for lignin depolymerization, a novel Ni/CaO–H-ZSM-5(60) catalyst was prepared to investigate the difficulty level of C–O bond of three model compounds cleavage in ethanol. | Highly selective cleavage C O ether bond of lignin model compounds over Ni CaO H-ZSM-5 in ethanol
