Paired Electrolyzers for Efficient Conversion of Furanic Compounds to Valuable Chemicals

目前，用于制造国家许多商业和工业产品的大多数商品和特种化学品都是使用热化学反应器以原油和天然气的化石燃料为原料制成的。在国家的发电网络中，风能和太阳能的可再生电力已被迅速采用；例如，爱荷华州34%的电力来自风力发电。这些可再生发电机也有望为化学工业脱碳提供能源。将可再生电力和可再生碳（生物质）集成在电解反应器中分布式生产化学品，可以将可再生电子存储在有价值的有机物的化学键中，以长期可储存的形式，从而解决电力弹性的迫切需求。然而，大多数商业有机物的电合成只利用电解槽的两个电极中的一个来产生所需的产品。该项目旨在设计一种创新的流动电解槽，用于将生物可再生原料的电催化加氢和氧化配对，同时从阴极和阳极产生有价值的化学物质，同时抑制氢和氧气体中不太有价值的副产品的演变。该项目提供的教育活动侧重于在爱荷华州和中西部地区培训大量的电化学和电化学工程主题的学生。研究成果将纳入新开发的课程：电化学工程，以及不同本科生的独立研究项目。该团队还将参加爱荷华州立大学现有的教育和推广项目，每年夏天培训当地高中生。长期教育目标是培养新一代电化学系统领域的研究人员，面对全球先进化学制造的竞争。这个基础工程科学研究项目解决了流动电解槽的设计，该电解槽可以在阴极和阳极对生物质原料进行电催化加氢和氧化，同时抑制不太有价值的氢气和氧气的排放。研究任务为：1)了解模型催化剂电化学转化的重要机理；2)精确合成先进催化剂；3)合理设计高效的电解池，在常温、常压、ph温和的水电解质条件下实现有价呋喃类化学品和单体的连续生产。本项目将以生物质原料分子糠醛和5-羟甲基糠醛（HMF）为模型原料。该研究将为生物可再生呋喃化合物的电催化加氢和氧化机理提供新的见解，并进一步了解催化剂组成和结构、电极电位和电解质pH在这些电化学转化中的作用。它还将为从阳极和阴极热电联产两种有价值的化学物质的配对电解槽的合理设计提供所需的知识，并为结合电分析方法和在线化学收集和分析开发新的方法，以更好地理解和设计电解系统。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Currently, most of the commodity and specialty chemicals used to manufacture many of the nation’s commercial and industrial products are made with fossil fuel feedstocks of crude oil and natural gas using thermochemical reactors. In the nation’s electricity generation grid, renewable electricity from wind and sun has been quickly adopted; for example, Iowa generates 34% of its electricity from wind power. These renewable electricity generators are also promising for providing energy to decarbonize the chemical industry. Integration of renewable electricity and renewable carbon (biomass) for distributed production of chemicals in electrolytic reactors, can store renewable electrons in chemical bonds of valuable organics, the long-term storable form, thus addressing urgent needs for power resilience. However, most commercial electro-syntheses of organics only utilize one of the two electrodes of an electrolyzer for generation of desired products. This project aims to design an innovative flow electrolyzer for pairing electrocatalytic hydrogenation and oxidation of biorenewable feedstock to simultaneously produce valuable chemicals from both cathode and anode, while suppressing the evolution of less valuable byproducts of hydrogen and oxygen gases. Education activities offered by this project focus on training a large body of students across Iowa and the Midwest with electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering topics. Research outcomes will be incorporated into a newly developed course: Electrochemical Engineering, as well as independent research projects for diverse undergraduate students. The team will also participate in Iowa State University’s existing education and outreach programs to train local high school students each summer. The long-term education goal is to produce a new generation of researchers in the fields of electrochemical systems, facing the global competition in advanced chemical manufacturing. This fundamental engineering science research project addresses the design of flow electrolyzers that pair the electrocatalytic hydrogenation and oxidation of biomass-derived feedstock at the cathode and anode, while suppressing the evolution of less valuable hydrogen and oxygen gases. The research tasks are: 1) Understand important mechanisms of electrochemical transformations using model catalysts for 2) accurate synthesis of advanced catalysts, so as to 3) rationally design an efficient electrolysis cell to achieve continuous production of valuable furanic chemicals and monomers at ambient temperature, pressure, aqueous electrolyte with mild pH. The project will take as model biomass feedstock molecules furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF).The research will acquire new insights into the mechanisms of the electrocatalytic hydrogenation and oxidation of biorenewable furanic compounds, along with advanced understanding of the role of catalyst composition and structure, electrode potential, and electrolyte pH in these electrochemical transformations. It will also provide needed knowledge for rational design of paired electrolyzers for cogeneration of two valuable chemicals from both anode and cathode and develop new approaches for combining electroanalytic methods and online chemical collection and analysis for better understanding and design of electrolytic systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.