Electrocatalytic Upgrading of Biomass‐Derived Intermediate Compounds to Value‐Added Products

Abstract

The continuous advance in exploring renewable energy resources such as solar and wind will certainly alleviate our reliance on limited fossil reserves. However, the sustainable development of mankind demands not only energy but also carbon-based chemical goods. Unfortunately, exploitation of renewable energy resources like solar and wind will not lead to any carbon-based chemicals. The only sustainable and green carbon source is biomass, the scale of annual production of which has an immense potential to complement that of fossil-derived carbons. To utilize biomass in economically effective ways, many catalytic processes have been investigated. Among various strategies of biomass refinery, electrocatalytic upgrading stands out as an attractive option because of its benign operation conditions, high energy efficiency, and convenient control on production rate and selectivity using electrochemical parameters. This Minireview showcases several electrocatalytic systems for both reductive and oxidative upgrading of representative biomass-derived intermediate compounds, including 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, furfural, levulinic acid, glycerol, and sorbitol to different value-added products. The catalytic routes and mechanisms of each biomass-derived platform compound are discussed and compared. In order to be feasible for large-scale applications, low-cost composition and preparation of electrocatalysts are mandatory and will be emphasized. Finally, our personal perspective on the current challenges and future directions of electrocatalytic biomass upgrading is presented.

Artificial photosynthesis: opportunities and challenges of molecular catalysts

“…However, it should be noted that the production of other types of fuels and highvalue-added chemicals can also be achieved with AP by driving the corresponding reactions, 10 such as ammonia production from nitrogen fixation, 11 epoxide production from hydrocarbon oxygenation, [12][13][14] hydrogen peroxide production from oxygen reduction, 15 and polymer production from biomass related 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) conversion reactions. 16 Two types of devices have been designed for the production of solar fuels, the photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell ( Fig. 2a) and the photovoltaic-coupled electrolyzer (PVE) device (Fig.…”

Electrochemical biomass valorization on gold-metal oxide nanoscale heterojunctions enables investigation of both catalyst and reaction dynamics with operando surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

“…1 Aside from the relatively well-established water electrolysis and CO 2 reduction reactions, the electrochemical conversion of increasingly abundant biomass platforms into fuels and components of polymers, fertilizers, organic electronics and pharmaceuticals is rather nascent yet growing rapidly. 2 These reactions carry high economic potential because the products that can be generated have a much higher value than the simple products generated from water electrolysis and CO 2 reduction (e.g. H 2 , CO, HCOOH.).…”

Greener Routes to Biomass Waste Valorization: Lignin Transformation Through Electrocatalysis for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels Production

“…To this end, electrocatalysis on cellulose-and hemicellulose-derivedo xygenates have already been reviewed extensively. [65][66][67][68] Pertaining to lignin, many reviews have discussed the structural properties of lignin and its upgrading strategies with over fiver eviewso nl ignin valorization already published since2 018. [32,33,50,[69][70][71][72][73] However, electrocatalytic upgrading of lignin is only partially discussedi ns uch reviewsm ostly focusing on lignin-derived monomers and dimers.…”