The goal of this project (SolReGen) was to develop a sunlight-driven chemical waste upcycling system (now called solar reforming) and bring it a step closer towards commercialisation. To achieve this goal, we addressed a major limitation of solar reforming, which is the requirement of very harsh pretreatment conditions (e.g. 10 M KOH solution) ) to depolymerise waste polymers. SolReGen succeeded by establishing enzymatic waste pre-treatment under benign conditions coupled to solar-powered chemical upcycling to value-added chemicals. This achievement was made possible by leveraging expertise and know-how from a recently completed ERC Consolidator Grant (MatEnSAP) to employ enzymes to break down the waste and then to produce fuel and chemicals over a photocatalyst. The key achievements of this project can be summarised as follows:
Demonstration of biological polymer waste pretreatment coupled to solar (or electro) reforming:
- The pretreatment of cellulosic waste using cellulases coupled to solar reforming has been demonstrated under benign conditions, including coupling to CO2 utilisation (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2023, 62, e2022158, Green Chem., 2023, 25, 10611–10621)
- The pretreatment of plastic waste using PET-degrading enzymes coupled to solar reforming has been demonstrated under benign conditions, including coupling to CO2 utilisation (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2023, 145, 37, 20355–20364)
- The pretreatment of food waste using microbes coupled to electrolysis has been demonstrated under benign conditions, including coupling to CO2 utilisation (ACS Catal., 2022, 12, 13360−13371)
Practical development, technoeconomics and future development:
- Floating solar reforming catalysts have been introduced for more practical and scalable deployment (Adv. Sci., 2023, 10, 2207314)
- A metric for solar fuel production has been introduced that is based on economic rather than pure energy efficiency considerations to highlight the benefits and commerical advantages of solar reforming (Acc. Chem. Res. 2022, 55, 23, 3376–3386)
- A review on solar reforming as emerging technology will be published soon (Nat. Rev. Chem., 2024, in press)
Next stages of development:
- Funding has been secured for next stages of development (details currently under embargo)
- IP on enzyme pretreatment coupled to solar reforming from this project has been protected
- A start-up company has been registered
