Self-sustainable production of hydrogen, chemicals, and energy from renewable alcohols by electrocatalysis.
The selective and simultaneous production of hydrogen and chemicals from renewable alcohols, such as ethanol, glycerol, and ethylene glycol, can be accomplished by means of electrolyzers in which the anode electrocatalyst is appropriately designed to promote the partial and selective oxidation of the alcohol. In the electrolyzers described herein, the production of 1 kg of hydrogen from aqueous ethanol occurs with one-third the amount of energy required by a traditional H(2)/O(2) electrolyzer, by virtue of the much lower oxidation potential of ethanol to acetate vs. water to oxygen in alkaline media (E(0)=0.10 V vs. 1.23 V). The self-sustainability of H(2) production is ensured by the simultaneous production of 25 kg of potassium acetate for every kg of H(2), if the promoting co-electrolyte is KOH.
Bambagioni
Valentina
V
Istituto di Chimica dei Composti Organometallici (ICCOM-CNR) via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Bevilacqua
Manuela
M
Bianchini
Claudio
C
Filippi
Jonathan
J
Lavacchi
Alessandro
A
Marchionni
Andrea
A
Vizza
Francesco
F
Shen
Pei Kang
PK
D000438:Alcohols / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004572:Electrolysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004736:Energy-Generating Resources; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction
D000438:Alcohols; D006859:Hydrogen