Carbon monoxide, as the main component of syngas (H2+ CO), is an important raw material for modern processes such as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and can also be burned directly as fuel. China is a traditional agricultural country, the available straw and other biomass resources are abundant, but at present there is no very effective way to use biomass resources, a large number of biomass resources accumulation or in-situ burning not only cause waste of resources, but also bring a series of environmental problems. Therefore, the conversion of renewable biomass resources into carbon monoxide is an effective and sustainable way to achieve the goals of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality".
The traditional biopolyol preparation of carbon monoxide is mainly achieved by thermochemical processes such as thermal cracking, steam reforming or liquid phase reforming. These processes need to be carried out at very high temperatures (600-1000 K) to overcome the wide variety of robust C-C bonds or C-O bonds in biomass molecules, with demanding reaction conditions, high equipment requirements and high energy consumption. Through photocatalysis, the use of sunlight widely present in nature to drive this process at room temperature and pressure has considerable prospects.
Recently, the team of wang min specially appointed researchers of Zhang Dayu (Chemistry) College of Dalian University of Technology and the team of researcher Wang Feng of Dalian Institute of Chemicals have cooperated to develop a new method for the preparation of carbon monoxide by photocatalytic oxidation and reforming of biomass. The research team prepared a CdS@g-C3N4 core-shell catalyst to promote the adsorption and activation of oxygen and produce hydroxyl radical reactive oxygen species. By controlling the ratio of oxygen to substrate, the reaction can be accelerated while avoiding excessive oxidation of the substrate to carbon dioxide, and the efficient conversion of biomass polyols into carbon monoxide under mild conditions is successfully realized. Under natural sunlight conditions, the catalytic system can still stably catalyze glycerol to produce carbon monoxide. This work has opened up a new path for the utilization of biomass resources and provided new ideas for the effective utilization of biomass resources.
The research results were published in Chem under the title "Oxygen-controlled photo-reforming of biopolyols to CO over Z-scheme CdS@g-C3N4".
Source: Dalian University of Technology
Article links:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451929421005271