Converting Biomass Waste into Energy Storage Materials

可持续的循环经济依赖于新工艺和新技术的开发，将废物转化为有价值的产品。麦克马斯特大学（加拿大）和塔林理工大学（爱沙尼亚TalTech）之间的这一合作项目将利用工业纸浆和造纸过程中大量产生的生物质废物开发具有受控纳米结构的高表面积碳材料。所生产的碳纳米材料将被定制和优化，以具有在超级电容器中应用的高性能，超级电容器是高功率密度的可持续储能设备，可用于消费电子产品和电动汽车。目前超级电容器面临的挑战是缺乏廉价和高性能的电极材料，这些材料必须由低成本和环境丰富的前体制备，这将通过这项研究工作来解决。拟议的项目结合了Kruusenberg博士（TalTech）在生物质衍生产品的制备和表征方面的专业知识，沿着他与欧盟纸浆和造纸公司建立的伙伴关系; Higgins博士（McMaster）在评估，表征和将纳米结构碳材料整合到电化学能量转换和存储技术方面的专业知识。该项目的结果将是开发用于可持续能源转换技术的生物废物衍生电极材料的关键一步，预计该为期一年的材料开发项目的结果将用于确保两个团队之间更大的多年合作项目。 鉴于世界面临的紧迫的可持续性和气候挑战，全球重点放在生物质利用和建立循环经济上。该项目将为这一领域做出有意义的贡献，通过开发路线来评估无处不在的纸浆和造纸行业产生的废物，用于超级电容器，预计到2025年全球市场规模将超过26亿美元。

A sustainable circular economy relies on the development of new processes and technologies to convert waste into valuable products. This collaborative project between McMaster University (Canada) and the Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech, Estonia) will develop high-surface area carbon materials with controlled nanostructures using biomass waste that is produced in large quantities from industrial pulp and paper processes. The produced carbon nanomaterials will be tailored and optimized to have high performance for application in supercapacitors, which are high power density sustainable energy storage devices that find application in consumer electronics and electric vehicles. The challenge currently plaguing supercapacitors is the lack of inexpensive and high-performance electrode materials that must be prepared from low-cost and environmentally abundant precursors, which will be addressed by this research effort. The proposed project combines Dr. Kruusenberg's (TalTech) expertise in the preparation and characterization of bio-mass derived products, along with his established partnerships with European Union based pulp and paper companies; with Dr. Higgins (McMaster) expertise in the evaluation, characterization and integration of nanostructured carbon materials into electrochemical energy conversion and storage technologies. The results from this project will be a crucial step towards the development of bio-waste derived electrode materials for sustainable energy conversion technologies, and it is expected the results from this one-year materials development project will be leveraged to secure a larger, multi-year collaborative project between the two teams. In light of urgent sustainability and climate challenges facing the world, there is a global emphasis being placed on biomass utilization and establishment of a circular economy. This project will provide meaningful contributions to this area by developing routes to valorize wastes produced by the ubiquitous pulp and paper sector for use in supercapacitors that have a global market size expected to exceed $2.6 billion USD by 2025.