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Solar-driven upgrading of biomass by coupled hydrogenation using in situ (photo)electrochemically generated H2

Author

Listed:
  • Keisuke Obata

    (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH
    The University of Tokyo)

  • Michael Schwarze

    (Department of Chemistry)

  • Tabea A. Thiel

    (Department of Chemistry
    Leibniz Institute for Catalysis)

  • Xinyi Zhang

    (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH)

  • Babu Radhakrishnan

    (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH)

  • Ibbi Y. Ahmet

    (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH)

  • Roel Krol

    (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH
    Department of Chemistry)

  • Reinhard Schomäcker

    (Department of Chemistry)

  • Fatwa F. Abdi

    (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH
    City University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

With the increasing pressure to decarbonize our society, green hydrogen has been identified as a key element in a future fossil fuel-free energy infrastructure. Solar water splitting through photoelectrochemical approaches is an elegant way to produce green hydrogen, but for low-value products like hydrogen, photoelectrochemical production pathways are difficult to be made economically competitive. A possible solution is to co-produce value-added chemicals. Here, we propose and demonstrate the in situ use of (photo)electrochemically generated H2 for the homogeneous hydrogenation of itaconic acid—a biomass-derived feedstock—to methyl succinic acid. Coupling these two processes offers major advantages in terms of stability and reaction flexibility compared to direct electrochemical hydrogenation, while minimizing the overpotential. An overall conversion of up to ~60% of the produced hydrogen is demonstrated for our coupled process, and a techno-economic assessment of our proposed device further reveals the benefit of coupling solar hydrogen production to a chemical transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • Keisuke Obata & Michael Schwarze & Tabea A. Thiel & Xinyi Zhang & Babu Radhakrishnan & Ibbi Y. Ahmet & Roel Krol & Reinhard Schomäcker & Fatwa F. Abdi, 2023. "Solar-driven upgrading of biomass by coupled hydrogenation using in situ (photo)electrochemically generated H2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-41742-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41742-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xinyi Zhang & Michael Schwarze & Reinhard Schomäcker & Roel Krol & Fatwa F. Abdi, 2023. "Life cycle net energy assessment of sustainable H2 production and hydrogenation of chemicals in a coupled photoelectrochemical device," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Yongbo Kuang & Qingxin Jia & Guijun Ma & Takashi Hisatomi & Tsutomu Minegishi & Hiroshi Nishiyama & Mamiko Nakabayashi & Naoya Shibata & Taro Yamada & Akihiko Kudo & Kazunari Domen, 2017. "Ultrastable low-bias water splitting photoanodes via photocorrosion inhibition and in situ catalyst regeneration," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 1-9, January.
    3. James L. Young & Myles A. Steiner & Henning Döscher & Ryan M. France & John A. Turner & Todd G. Deutsch, 2017. "Direct solar-to-hydrogen conversion via inverted metamorphic multi-junction semiconductor architectures," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 1-8, April.
    4. Jieyang Jia & Linsey C. Seitz & Jesse D. Benck & Yijie Huo & Yusi Chen & Jia Wei Desmond Ng & Taner Bilir & James S. Harris & Thomas F. Jaramillo, 2016. "Solar water splitting by photovoltaic-electrolysis with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency over 30%," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-6, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Feng Liang & Roel van de Krol & Fatwa F. Abdi, 2024. "Assessing elevated pressure impact on photoelectrochemical water splitting via multiphysics modeling," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.

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