Project description
Low-cost catalysts from industrial waste
Rapid developments in organic chemistry allow the production of universal and cost-affordable catalysts from industrial waste. The EU-funded HAEMOGLOBIN project will make universal and low-cost catalysts from industrial waste and apply them to biomass upgrading. Specifically, it will make single atomic FeNx sites supported on carbon (FeNx@C) that have seen tremendous development in organic chemistry in recent years. They are also active for both oxidations and reductions, constituting a promising non-toxic and low-cost alternative to the platinum-group metals. The development of this new technology will facilitate the exploitation of biomass to make new catalysts and achieve large-scale conversion of bio-based platform chemicals.
Objective
The aim of this proposal is to make universal and low-cost catalysts from industrial waste and apply them to biomass upgrading. To that end, we will make single atomic FeNx sites supported on carbon (FeNx@C) that have seen tremendous development in organic chemistry in the past 5 years. Indeed, they are active for both oxidations and reductions, and constitute promising substitutes for toxic, scarce and costly platinum-group metals (PGM). Yet major challenges remain in the field: first we need to find new routes to drastically lower the footprint of their synthesis. Here we will adopt a bio-inspired approach and use inexpensive hemoproteins as precursors: they naturally contain four pre-built FeNx sites (hemes) per unit. Hemoproteins can be extracted from blood in slaughterhouse waste. We will use the resulting catalysts for the upgrading of key biomass-derived platform molecules: 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), levulinic acid (LA), and other biomass-derived alcohols.
The reductive and oxidative potency of FeNx@C will be first explored separately, then sequentially for alcohol direct conversion to amines. Due to their heterogeneous nature, FeNx@C catalysts can be readily transposed to continuous flow synthesis. With such promising technology, we will fully exploit biomass to both make new catalysts and perform large scale conversion of bio-based platform chemicals.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
SW7 2AZ LONDON
United Kingdom