Recent Progress in Electrochemical Upgrading of Bio-Oil Model Compounds and Bio-Oils to Renewable Fuels and Platform Chemicals

Abstract

Sustainable production of renewable carbon-based fuels and chemicals remains a necessary but immense challenge in the fight against climate change. Bio-oil derived from lignocellulosic biomass requires energy-intense upgrading to produce usable fuels or chemicals. Traditional upgrading methods such as hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) require high temperatures (200–400 °C) and 200 bar of external hydrogen. Electrochemical hydrogenation (ECH), on the other hand, operates at low temperatures (<80 °C), ambient pressure, and does not require an external hydrogen source. These environmental and economically favorable conditions make ECH a promising alternative to conventional thermochemical upgrading processes. ECH combines renewable electricity with biomass conversion and harnesses intermediately generated electricity to produce drop-in biofuels. This review aims to summarize recent studies on bio-oil upgrading using ECH focusing on the development of novel catalytic materials and factors impacting ECH efficiency and products. Here, electrode design, reaction temperature, applied overpotential, and electrolytes are analyzed for their impacts on overall ECH performance. We find that through careful reaction optimization and electrode design, ECH reactions can be tailored to be efficient and selective for the production of renewable fuels and chemicals. Preliminary economic and environmental assessments have shown that ECH can be viable alternative to convention upgrading technologies with the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 3 times compared to thermochemical upgrading. While the field of electrochemical upgrading of bio-oil has additional challenges before commercialization, this review finds ECH a promising avenue to produce renewable carbon-based drop-in biofuels. Finally, based on the analyses presented in this review, directions for future research areas and optimization are suggested.

Current and Emerging Electrochemical Approaches for Chemical Manufacturing

“…Upgrading has included electrochemical hydrogenation (ECH), dehydrogenation (ECD), oxidation (ECO), dimerization, and ring-opening reactions to form intermediates for fuels and chemicals. [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] The electrochemical depolymerization and upgrading of lignin is also an area of study. 37,38 The drive for electrochemical, rather than thermochemical, upgrading of biomassderived species has included the ease of integration of renewable electricity, ability to operate at ambient temperatures and pressures, and reduced infrastructure needs such as steam or hydrogen gas.…”

Study on Flowability Regulation of Vacuum Gas-Atomized Fe-Cr-Ni-W-B Spherical Powder

“…Fe-W-B system materials are a novel ternary boride with a TiNiSi crystal structure and a high content of W and B (73.4% and 4.3% wt%, respectively) [ 1 ]; these materials exhibit a wide range of unusual physical and chemical properties at elevated temperatures [ 2 , 3 ]. These fascinating features open a wide range of possible applications for Fe-W-B, including nuclear shielding, microwires, petrochemicals, corrosion-resistant coating, and wear-resistant materials [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”

Purification of Quinoline Insolubles in Heavy Coal Tar and Preparation of Meso-Carbon Microbeads by Catalytic Polycondensation

“…There are tar-rich coals with yields greater than 7%, and even high-tar coals containing 12% [ 8 , 9 ]. Although the coal in northern Shaanxi is of good quality and low sulfur content, the prepared blue carbon is of good quality and has a wide market, but the classification and utilization of tar is still an important problem that local coal enterprises urgently need to solve [ 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”