NSF-DFG Echem: Future Fuels and Chemicals from Electrocatalytic Upgrading: Advancing Kinetic Understanding using Operando Spectroscopic Approaches and Quantum Chemicial modeling

该项目的重点是快速热解（Py）生物油的电催化加氢和脱氧（ECH），用于制造化学和碳氢化合物燃料前体。 美国--德国的合作是教授之间。来自密歇根州东兰辛市密歇根州立大学（MSU）的Christopher Saffron、James“Ned”杰克逊和Scott Calabrese巴顿以及德国萨克森州布伦瑞克工业大学（TUB）的Uwe Schröder教授。 相关的活动包括有机电合成，催化剂的评价在operando技术，量子化学建模，反应工程和反应器设计，导致基础知识支持系统的规模。随着这项技术的进一步发展，制造“成品”碳氢燃料成为可能，从而导致农村生产电生物燃料。 电生物燃料是将来自两种可再生途径的能量耦合在一起的燃料：生物质和替代电力（例如风能和太阳能）。 需要电生物燃料来扭转气候变化的负面影响，因为只有像Py-ECH这样的系统才能有效地循环美国每年收获的13亿吨植物生物质中的碳。 然而，生物油的腐蚀性和反应不稳定性限制了其在传统燃料和化学过程中的使用，因此需要升级以克服这些障碍。生物油的ECH是降低其反应性和腐蚀性并改善其与传统制造基础设施的相容性的关键升级技术。 先前的研究表明，碳-碳和碳-氧双键，以及去定域的π键，在ECH期间饱和。 此外，当与加氢处理相比时，这些反应在非常温和的反应温度和压力下发生。 在密歇根州立大学和布伦瑞克工业大学之间的这一合作项目中，将通过有机分子电催化试验、操作测量、量子化学建模和动力学模型开发来深入了解ECH反应机理。 所获得的新知识将导致改进的反应器设计和更好地降低规模扩大的风险，以最终将ECH作为生物油升级策略商业化。

This project’s focus is the electrocatalytic hydrogenation and deoxygenation (ECH) of fast pyrolysis (Py) bio-oils for the purpose of making chemical and hydrocarbon fuel precursors. The U.S.-German collaboration is between Prof.’s Christopher Saffron, James “Ned” Jackson, and Scott Calabrese Barton at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, Michigan and Prof. Uwe Schröder at the Technische Universität Braunschweig (TUB) in Lower Saxony, Germany. Relevant activities include organic electrosynthesis, catalyst evaluation by in operando techniques, quantum chemical modeling, reaction engineering and reactor design leading to fundamental knowledge supporting system scale-up. With further development of this technology, making “finished” hydrocarbon fuels is possible, leading towards rural production of electrobiofuels. Electrobiofuels are fuels that couple the energy from two renewable routes: biomass and alternative electricity (e.g. wind and solar). Electrobiofuels are needed to reverse the negative impacts of climate change, as only systems like Py-ECH are designed to efficiently cycle the carbon in the 1.3 billion tons of plant biomass that could be annually harvested in the U.S. Intellectual Merit: Fast pyrolysis uses heat without oxygen to convert biomass into liquid bio-oil, solid biochar, and combustible gases. However, bio-oil’s corrosiveness and reactive instability limit its use in conventional fuel and chemical processes, so upgrading is needed to overcome these hurdles. ECH of bio-oil is a key upgrading technique to reduce its reactivity and corrosiveness and improve its compatibility with conventional manufacturing infrastructure. Previous research shows that carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen double bonds, as well as de-localized pi bonds, are saturated during ECH. Further, these reactions occur under very mild reaction temperatures and pressures when compared to hydroprocessing. In this collaborative project between Michigan State University and Technische Universität Braunschweig, an advanced understanding of ECH reaction mechanisms will be gained through organic molecule electrocatalysis trials, in operando measurements, quantum chemical modeling, and kinetic model development. The new knowledge that is gained will be lead to improved reactor design and better de-risking of scale up for eventual commercialization of ECH as a bio-oil upgrading strategy.