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

Keisuke Obata, Michael Schwarze, Tabea A. Thiel, Xinyi Zhang, Babu Radhakrishnan, Ibbi Y. Ahmet, Roel Krol, Reinhard Schomäcker and Fatwa F. Abdi ()
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Keisuke Obata: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH
Michael Schwarze: Department of Chemistry
Tabea A. Thiel: Department of Chemistry
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
Reinhard Schomäcker: Department of Chemistry
Fatwa F. Abdi: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41742-4

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