Paired Electrolyzers for Efficient Conversion of Furanic Compounds to Valuable Chemicals

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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.