Proceedings of MATSUS Fall 2023 Conference (MATSUSFall23)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsus.2023.019
Publication date: 18th July 2023
In the transition towards Net-Zero, there is significant interest in phasing out fossil fuels as both the energy source and precursor for petrochemicals. Biomass is recognised as an ideal CO2 neutral, abundant, and renewable resource substitute for fossil fuels.1 The rich proton content in most biomass-derived materials endows it to be an effective hydrogen carrier. The inherent chemical structure allows them to be easily catalysed to produce valuable commodity chemicals that can be used in applications such as biodegradable polymers and pharmaceuticals. Although historically biomass has been regarded as waste stream, recent years have seen increasing attention in valorising it into useful products.2
In this talk, I present biomass electrolysis, specifically glycerol (the waste by-product from the bio-diesel industry), as an alternative route to producing hydrogen and value-added chemicals.3 The process resembles water electrolysis, with H2 produced on the cathode via a hydrogen evolution reaction. On the anode, however, instead of oxidising water, partial oxidation of glycerol takes place, with a much lower thermodynamic requirement that can cut the electricity input by half. Here I present the fundamental knowledge on the general reaction mechanisms, acquired through advanced material characterisations and DFT calculation. At the same time, details on catalyst requirements and recent advances for the future strategic design of the processing system will be provided.
Looking beyond, besides utilising biomass, an even higher urgency lies in recycling the accumulating plastic waste into useful products. Mechanochemistry has emerged as a safe, efficient, and green technique. Using just mechanical energy, this process can cleave chemical bonds and depolymerise long-chain molecules such as cellulose and plastics, revealing huge potential in industrial applications.4 By transforming a liquid process into a solid-state reaction, this technique can also significantly reduce solvent consumption. Therefore, this talk will also cover the recent advances in mechanochemical catalysis for plastic recycling, and present the possibility of coupling mechanochemistry with electrochemistry for valorising waste into green hydrogen and value-added chemicals.
1. Luo, H.; Barrio, J.; Sunny, N.; Li, A. Y.; Steier, L.; Shah, N.; Stephens, I. E. L.; Titirici, M. M. Progress and perspectives in photo‐and electrochemical‐oxidation of biomass for sustainable chemicals and hydrogen production. Adv. Energ. Mat. 2021, 11, 2101180.
2. Barrio, J.; Pedersen, A.; Favero, S.; Luo, H.; Wang, M.; Sarma, S. C.; Feng, J.; Tran, L. T. N.; Kellner, S.; Li, A. Y.; Sobrido, A. B. J.; Titirici, M. M. Bioinspired and Bioderived Aqueous Electrocatalysis. Chem. Rev. 2023, 123, 5, 2311-2348.
3. Luo, H.; Yukuhiro, V. Y.; Fernández, P. S.; Feng, J.; Thompson, P.; Rao, R. R.; Cai, R.; Favero, S.; Haigh, S. J.; Durrant, J. R.; Stephens, I. E. L.; Titirici, M. M. Role of Ni in PtNi Bimetallic Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen and Value-Added Chemicals Coproduction via Glycerol Electrooxidation. ACS Catal. 2022, 12, 23, 14492–14506
4. May, P. A.; Moore, J. S. Polymer mechanochemistry: techniques to generate molecular force via elongational flows. Chem. Soc. Rev., 2013, 42, 7497.
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