Collaborative Research: Fundamentals of biomass upgrading to fuels and chemicals over catalytic bimetallic nanoparticles

【摘要】simon G. podkolzin生物质转化为燃料和化工原料的新技术依赖于生物油的生产，生物油需要升级，以便从含氧有机分子（如有机酸和酚类）中去除氧气。高浓度的氧气使生物油呈酸性和腐蚀性，在储存过程中不稳定，单位重量的能量价值低于石油衍生的碳氢化合物。虽然已有有效的生物油生产商业化工艺，但目前还没有有效的催化商业化升级技术。目前的研究和开发技术都是从传统的石油精炼催化剂开始的，这些催化剂没有针对生物质加工进行优化，因此效果不佳。因此，为了成功开发可持续能源，迫切需要新的催化升级技术。与石油精炼过程类似，催化剂的进步，如使用双金属或多金属催化剂，导致非常有效地提供低污染燃料。然而，由于缺乏对来自生物质的含氧碳氢化合物如何与有前途的双金属催化剂相互作用的基本了解，这种新的生物油催化技术的发展受到严重阻碍。美国国家科学基金会催化与生物催化项目将设立一个奖项，资助新泽西州霍博肯史蒂文斯理工学院的Simon Podkolzin教授和Adeniyi Lawal教授以及普林斯顿大学的Bruce Koel教授之间的合作，以推进对生物油中的含氧分子如何吸附并在催化双金属纳米颗粒上发生反应的分子水平的理解。获得的基本原理将用于确定：(a)生物油升级的首选化学物质，(b)改进的催化剂配方，以及(c)优化的反应条件。该计划将协同结合单晶表面科学实验，负载金属催化剂的表征和测试，以及用于解释实验振动光谱的量子化学计算和用于反应机制研究的过渡态计算。认识到这一领域的许多研究正在得到资助，研究将与太平洋西北国家实验室内综合催化研究所的能源部生物质转化项目密切合作进行。这将减少工作的重复和协同作用，以成功实现生物质转化的努力。这一合作项目将为生产可再生能源和化学工业原料的高效和环境友好的新技术的变革性发展奠定基础。这项研究的基础知识和应用知识将推动催化纳米材料的合理设计，更广泛地说，将有利于高度多样化和快速发展的技术，这些技术主要依赖于含氧有机分子和金属纳米颗粒之间的相互作用，从传感器到医疗诊断，从药物输送到燃料电池。研究人员将参与几个本科和K-12教育推广项目。例如，研究人员将开发用于绿色化学和可持续性的金属纳米颗粒教学模块，并将在夏令营中为来自美国各地的300多名高中生使用

Abstract#1264453Simon G. PodkolzinPromising new technologies for biomass conversion into fuels and chemical feedstocks rely on production of bio-oils, which need to be upgraded in order to remove oxygen from oxygen-containing organic molecules such as organic acids and phenols. A high oxygen concentration makes bio-oils acidic and corrosive, unstable during storage, and less energetically valuable per unit weight than petroleum-derived hydrocarbons. Although there are effective commercializable processes for the production of bio-oils, there are no efficient catalytic commercializable technologies for their upgrading. Current research and development technologies have started with traditional petroleum refining catalysts, which are not optimized for biomass processing, and as a result, are not very effective. New catalytic upgrading technologies are, therefore, urgently needed for the successful development of sustainable energy resources. Parallels may be sought with petroleum refining processes, where catalyst advances, such as using bimetallic or multimetallic catalysts, have led to very efficient delivery of low contaminant fuels. Development of such new catalytic technologies for bio-oils, however, is severely hindered by a lack of fundamental understanding of how oxygen-containing hydrocarbons derived from biomass interact with promising bimetallic catalysts.The National Science Foundation Catalysis & Biocatalysis Program will make an award to fund a collaborative effort between Professors Simon Podkolzin and Adeniyi Lawal of Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, and Professor Bruce Koel of Princeton University to advance the molecular-level understanding of how oxygen-containing molecules from bio-oils adsorb and react on catalytic bimetallic nanoparticles. The obtained fundamentals will be used to identify: (a) preferred chemistries for bio-oil upgrading, (b) improved catalyst formulations, and (c) optimized reaction conditions. The program will synergistically combine single-crystal surface science experiments, characterization and testing of supported metal catalysts, and quantum-chemical calculations with vibrational analyses for interpretation of experimental vibrational spectra and transition state calculations for reaction mechanisms studies. Recognizing that many studies are being funded in this area, research will be conducted in close cooperation with Department of Energy biomass conversion programs at the Institute for Integrated Catalysis operating within the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This should result in reduced duplication of efforts and synergy in moving to successful achievement of biomass conversion efforts.This collaborative project will establish one basis for the transformative development of new efficient and environmentally friendly technologies for the production of renewable energy and chemical industry feedstocks. The fundamental and applied knowledge from this research will advance the rational design of catalytic nanomaterials and, more widely, will benefit highly diverse and rapidly developing technologies that vitally rely on the interaction between oxygen-containing organic molecules and metal nanoparticles, ranging from sensors to medical diagnostics, and from drug delivery to fuel cells. The researchers will be engaged in several undergraduate and K-12 educational outreach programs. For example, the investigators will develop teaching modules on metal nanoparticles for green chemistry and sustainability which they will use in a summer camp for more than 300 high school students from across the U.S.