Solar-driven Electrocatalytic Biomass Upgrading to Value-added Chemicals

Descripción del proyecto

Energía solar para la conversión de biomasa

El cambio climático y la urgente necesidad de dejar atrás los combustibles fósiles convierten a las tecnologías renovables en un ingrediente esencial para la transición. La reducción en los costes de producción facilita el uso de sistemas solares y eólicos para la generación de energía. Además, deberíamos relacionar la sustitución de combustibles fósiles con el uso de tecnologías renovables para absorber las sustancias químicas basadas en carbono que la industria petroquímica genera. La biomasa es una fuente de carbono abundante y potencialmente sostenible. Desde hace tiempo, los compuestos derivados de biomasa y de valor añadido se han analizado en el contexto de los procesos termocatalíticos de los metales nobles. El proyecto SOLBIOCHEM, financiado con fondos europeos, desarrollará nuevos materiales electrocatalíticos a partir de sulfuros y óxidos metálicos de transición abundantes en la corteza terrestre, a fin de mejorar con energía solar los compuestos derivados de biomasa.

Objetivo

The urgency of addressing climate change and the plummeting costs of renewable solar and wind-generated electricity put these technologies at the forefront of the energy transition to move away from fossil fuels.Moreover as our reliance on fossil resources is decreasing, it is important to think not only about replacing them as an energy source, but also about using renewable technologies to take over the carbon-based chemicals produced by the petrochemical industry. To achieve this, the most abundant and potentially sustainable source of carbon is the biomass, which stores contemporary carbon, and can be readily harvested, transported and stored. Indeed, derivatives of cellulose or the glycerol generated by the growing biofuel industry are prime candidates for the production of value-added compounds in a “bio-refinery”. So far, upgrading of these biomass-derived compounds has traditionally been studied using thermocatalytic processes on noble metals, which presents challenges such as catalyst cost, the need for high temperature and pressurized gases and the generation of coke that can poison and deactivate catalysts. Alternatively, with the access to increasingly cheaper renewable electricity, electrocatalytic processes have a strong appeal, as they are conducted at room temperature, typically rely on abundant H2O as a proton and/or oxygen source, and can provide fine control over the rate and product selectivity through monitoring of the applied potential.

This research proposal aims at developing and studying new electrocatalytic materials made of Earth-abundant transition metal oxides and sulfides, for the valorisation of biomass-derived molecules. The associated performance and mechanisms will be investigated by means of electrochemistry and operando techniques, and integration of the best electrocatalysts with solar energy conversion systems will be explored to demonstrate direct use of sunlight to power biomass conversion in a sustainable fashion.