Biotechnology for production of fuels,chemicals, and materials from biomass

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Biological systems can convert renewable resources, including lignocellulosic biomass, starch crops, and carbon dioxide, into fuels, chemicals, and...     

Synthesis gas as substrate for the biological production of fuels and chemicals

Synthesis gas provides a simple substrate for the production of fuels and chemicals. Synthesis gas can be produced via established technologies from a variety of feedstocks including coal, wood, and agricultural and municipal wastes. The gasification is thermally efficient and results in complete conversion of the feedstock to fermentable substrate.Clostridium ljungdahlii grows on the synthesis gas components, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. Production of acetic acid and ethanol accompanies growth with synthesis gas as sole source of energy and carbon. Rate and yield parameters are compared forC. ljungdahlii grown on carbon monoxide, or hydrogen with carbon dioxide.

     

Photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production

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Simultaneous hydrogen and peroxide production by photocatalytic water splitting

Photocatalytic oxidation of water is a promising method to realize large-scale H₂O₂ production without a hazardous and energy-intensive process. In this study, we introduce a Pt/TiO₂(anatase) photocatalyst to construct a simple and environmentally friendly system to achieve simultaneous H₂ and H₂O₂ production. Both H₂ and H₂O₂ are high-value chemicals, and their separation is automatic. Even without the assistance of a sacrificial agent, the system can reach an efficiency of 7410 and 5096 μmol g^–1 h^–1 (first 1 h) for H₂ and H₂O₂, respectively, which is much higher than that of a commercial Pt/TiO₂(anatase) system that has a similar morphology. This exceptional activity is attributed to the more favorable two-electron oxidation of water to H₂O₂, compared with the four-electron oxidation of water to O₂.     

生产运输燃料和有机化学品生物催化体系的新进展

总结了细菌作为生物催化剂的特征和应用的新进展,预测了未来发展趋势。深入讨论了微藻系统的发展,包括PetroAlgae公司和中国石化石油化工科学研究院微藻实验室的一些进展。     

Novel zirconium-titanium phosphates mesoporous materials for hydrogen production by photoinduced water splitting

Syntheses of mesoporous zirconium-titanium phosphates (ZTP) are described under a wide range of synthetic parameters. The ZTP materials showed ordered mesophases whose pore walls are either amorphous or show a lack of correspondence between the structures of adjacent pores. However, the materials showed the reasonable thermal and hydrothermal stability, high specific surface areas, narrow pore size distribution, and considerable pore volumes in the mesophases range. UV-visible and XANES results confirmed the presence of tetrahedrally coordinated zirconium and titanium in the mesoporous framework. 31P NMR measurements provide the details on the coordination structure of Ti, Zr, O, and P connectivities in the mesoporous frameworks. Finally, the ZTP materials demonstrated the considerable activity in photocatalytic decomposition of water for hydrogen generation.     

Ester fuels and chemicals from biomass

Bench-scale research demonstrated that using an efficient esterification step to integrate an ethanol with a carboxylic acid fermentation stream offers potential for producing valuable ester feedstocks and fuels. Polar organic acids from bacterial fermentations are difficult to extract and purify, but formation of the ammonium salts and their conversion to esters facilitates the purifications. An improved esterification procedure gave high yields of esters, and this method will lower the cost of ester production. Fuel characteristics have been determined for a number of ester-gasoline blends with promising results for lowering Reid vapor pressure and raising octane numbers.     

Bridging electrocatalyst and cocatalyst studies for solar hydrogen production via water splitting

Solar-driven water-splitting has been considered as a promising technology for large-scale generation of sustainable energy for succeeding generations. Recent intensive efforts have led to the discovery of advanced multi-element-compound water-splitting electrocatalysts with very small overpotentials in anticipation of their application to solar cell-assisted water electrolysis. Although photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water-splitting systems are more attractive approaches for scaling up without much technical complexity and high investment costs, improving their efficiencies remains a huge challenge. Hybridizing photocatalysts or photoelectrodes with cocatalysts has been an effective scheme to enhance their overall solar energy conversion efficiencies. However, direct integration of highly-active electrocatalysts as cocatalysts introduces critical factors that require careful consideration. These additional requirements limit the design principle for cocatalysts compared with electrocatalysts, decelerating development of cocatalyst materials. This perspective first summarizes the recent advances in electrocatalyst materials and the effective strategies to assemble cocatalyst/photoactive semiconductor composites, and further discusses the core principles and tools that hold the key in designing advanced cocatalysts and generating a deeper understanding on how to further push the limits of water-splitting efficiency.

This perspective briefly reviews recently developed water splitting electrocatalyst materials and discusses their utilization as cocatalysts for photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water splitting systems.     

Selective electrocatalytic conversion of methane to fuels and chemicals

The increase in natural gas reserves makes methane a significant hydrocarbon feedstock. However, the direct catalytic conversion of methane into liquid fuels and useful chemicals remains a great challenge,and many studies have been devoted to this field in the past decades. Electrocatalysis is considered as an important alternative approach for the direct conversion of methane into value-added chemicals, although many other innovative methods have been developed. This review highlights recent advances in electrocatalytic conversion of methane to ethylene and methanol, two important chemicals. The electrocatalytic systems efficient for methane conversions are summarized with an emphasis on catalysts and electrolytes. The effects of reaction conditions such as the temperature and the acid–base property of the reaction medium are also discussed.     

Recent research efforts in the area of biotechnology for fuels and chemicals

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology -     

Hydrogen production by photosynthetic microorganisms

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Hydrogen is a clean energy alternative to the fossil fuels, the main source of greenhouse gas emissions. We developed a stable system for the conversion of...     

Defective TiO2 for photocatalytic CO2 conversion to fuels and chemicals

Photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ into fuels and valuable chemicals using solar energy is a promising technology to combat climate change and meet the growing energy demand. Extensive effort is going on for the development of a photocatalyst with desirable optical, surface and electronic properties. This review article discusses recent development in the field of photocatalytic CO₂ conversion using defective TiO₂. It specifically focuses on the different synthesis methodologies adapted to generate the defects and their impact on the chemical, optical and surface properties of TiO₂ and, thus, photocatalytic CO₂ conversion. It also encompasses theoretical investigations performed to understand the role of defects in adsorption and activation of CO₂ and identify the mechanistic pathway which governs the formation and selectivity of different products. It is divided into three parts: (i) general mechanism and thermodynamic criteria for defective TiO₂ catalyzed CO₂ conversion, (ii) theoretical investigation on the role of defects in the CO₂ adsorption–activation and mechanism responsible for the formation and selectivity of different products, and (iii) the effect of variation of physicochemical properties of defective TiO₂ synthesized using different methods on the photocatalytic conversion of CO₂. The review also discusses the limitations and the challenges of defective TiO₂ photocatalysts that need to be overcome for the production of sustainable fuel utilizing solar energy.

This review discusses photocatalytic CO₂ conversion using defective TiO₂, with emphasis on the mechanism, the role of defects on CO₂ adsorption–activation and product selectivity, as well as challenges of defective TiO₂ to produce solar fuels.     

Catalytic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fine chemicals and fuels

Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant and bio-renewable resource with great potential for sustainable production of chemicals and fuels. This critical review provides insights into the state-of the-art accomplishments in the chemocatalytic technologies to generate fuels and value-added chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass, with an emphasis on its major component, cellulose. Catalytic hydrolysis, solvolysis, liquefaction, pyrolysis, gasification, hydrogenolysis and hydrogenation are the major processes presently studied. Regarding catalytic hydrolysis, the acid catalysts cover inorganic or organic acids and various solid acids such as sulfonated carbon, zeolites, heteropolyacids and oxides. Liquefaction and fast pyrolysis of cellulose are primarily conducted over catalysts with proper acidity/basicity. Gasification is typically conducted over supported noble metal catalysts. Reaction conditions, solvents and catalysts are the prime factors that affect the yield and composition of the target products. Most of processes yield a complex mixture, leading to problematic upgrading and separation. An emerging technique is to integrate hydrolysis, liquefaction or pyrolysis with hydrogenation over multifunctional solid catalysts to convert lignocellulosic biomass to value-added fine chemicals and bio-hydrocarbon fuels. And the promising catalysts might be supported transition metal catalysts and zeolite-related materials. There still exist technological barriers that need to be overcome (229 references).     

Decoupled electrolysis for water splitting

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Spiral tubular bioreactors for hydrogen production by photosynthetic microorganisms

Spiral tubular bioreactors were constructed out of transparent PVC tubing for H2 production applications. Both a cyanobacterialAnabaena variabilis mutant that lacks uptake hydrogenase activity and the photosynthetic bacteriumRhodobacter sp. CBS were tested in the bioreactors. Continuous H₂ photoproduction at an average rate of 19 mL min^-2.h^-1 was observed using theA. variabilis mutant under an air atmosphere (without argon sparging or application of a partial vacuum). The cyanobacterial photobioreactor was run continuously for over one month with an average efficiency of light energy conversion to H₂ of 1.4%. Another H₂-producing approach employed a unique type of activity found in a strain of photosynthetic bacteria that shifts CO (and H₂O) into H₂ (and CO₂) in darkness. Continuous dark H₂ production byRhodobacter sp. CBS from CO (in anticipation of using synthesis gas as the future substrate) at rates up to 140 mL . g cdw^-1 . h^-1 was observed in a bubble-train bioreactor for more than 10 d.

     

光催化完全分解水制氢研究进展

由完全分解水的特殊性出发,从材料的结构和能带设计以及材料的表面修饰等方面对完全分解水光催化剂的研制及其分解水产氢产氧性能进行了评述.介绍了Z型体系在完全分解水制氢方面的原理,以及目前已经开发出来的几个Z型体系.对光催化完全分解水研究中存在的问题进行了简单分析.