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Progress and roadmap for electro-privileged transformations of bio-derived molecules

Nature Catalysis volume 7, pages 350–360 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Biomass incorporates carbon captured from the atmosphere and can serve as a renewable feedstock for producing valuable chemicals and fuels. Here we look at how electrochemical approaches can impact biomass valorization, focusing on identifying chemical transformations that leverage renewable electricity and feedstocks to produce valorized products via electro-privileged transformations. First, we recommend that the field should explore widening the spectrum of platform chemicals derived from bio-feedstocks, thus offering pathways to molecules that have historically been derived from petroleum. Second, we identify opportunities in electrocatalytic production of energy-dense fuels from biomass that utilize water as the hydrogen source and renewable electricity as the driving force. Finally, we look at the potential in electrochemical depolymerization to preserve key functional groups in raw feedstocks that would otherwise be lost during harsh pre-treatments in traditional depolymerization routes. On the basis of these priorities, we suggest a roadmap for the integration of biomass and electrochemistry and offer milestones required to tap further into the potential of electrochemical biomass valorization.

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Fig. 1: Process analysis for biomass valorization and electro-privileged transformation.
Fig. 2: An overview of certain electrochemical biomass valorization studies reported in the past decade.
Fig. 3: Electrochemical biomass valorization pathways.
Fig. 4: Roadmap to contribute to net zero.

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Acknowledgements

K.-S.C. acknowledges the financial support provided by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Catalysis Science Program under award DE-SC0020983. A.H. acknowledges the financial support provided by the US DOE, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Catalysis Science Program under award DE-SC0023322. N.S. acknowledges US National Science Foundation grant 2320929. This work was authored in part by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, the manager and operator of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the US DOE, under contract no. DE-AC36-08GO28308//SUB-2021-10692 Mod 1. This work was authored in part by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the US DOE under contract no. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding provided by the US Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office, in collaboration with the Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the US Government. The US Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for US Government purposes. This work was supported, in whole or in part, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (INV-061828).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Cong Tian, Roham Dorakhan, Joshua Wicks.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Cong Tian & Edward H. Sargent

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Cong Tian, Roham Dorakhan, Joshua Wicks, Zhu Chen & Edward H. Sargent

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Kyoung-Shin Choi

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Nirala Singh

  5. Bioenergy Science and Technology Directorate, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA

    Joshua A. Schaidle

  6. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Adam Holewinski

  7. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Aleksandra Vojvodic

  8. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

    Dionisios G. Vlachos

  9. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Linda J. Broadbelt

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E.H.S. supervised the project. C.T., R.D., J.W. and E.H.S. co-wrote the paper. All authors discussed the ideas and assisted during the preparation of the paper.

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Correspondence to Edward H. Sargent.

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Tian, C., Dorakhan, R., Wicks, J. et al. Progress and roadmap for electro-privileged transformations of bio-derived molecules. Nat Catal 7, 350–360 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-024-01131-6

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