Zhao Hu, Lu Dan, Wang Jiarui, Tu Wenguang, Wu Dan, Koh See Wee, Gao Pingqi, Xu Zhichuan J, Deng Sili, Zhou Yan, You Bo, Li Hong
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
Advanced Environmental Biotechnology Centre, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
Nat Commun. 2021 Mar 31;12(1):2008. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22250-9.
Despite the tremendous progress of coupling organic electrooxidation with hydrogen generation in a hybrid electrolysis, electroreforming of raw biomass coupled to green hydrogen generation has not been reported yet due to the rigid polymeric structures of raw biomass. Herein, we electrooxidize the most abundant natural amino biopolymer chitin to acetate with over 90% yield in hybrid electrolysis. The overall energy consumption of electrolysis can be reduced by 15% due to the thermodynamically and kinetically more favorable chitin oxidation over water oxidation. In obvious contrast to small organics as the anodic reactant, the abundance of chitin endows the new oxidation reaction excellent scalability. A solar-driven electroreforming of chitin and chitin-containing shrimp shell waste is coupled to safe green hydrogen production thanks to the liquid anodic product and suppression of oxygen evolution. Our work thus demonstrates a scalable and safe process for resource upcycling and green hydrogen production for a sustainable energy future.
尽管在混合电解中将有机电氧化与制氢相结合取得了巨大进展，但由于天然生物质的刚性聚合物结构，将原生生物质电重整与绿色制氢相结合的研究尚未见报道。在此，我们在混合电解中将最丰富的天然氨基生物聚合物几丁质电氧化为乙酸盐，产率超过90%。由于几丁质氧化在热力学和动力学上比水氧化更有利，电解的总能耗可降低15%。与作为阳极反应物的小分子有机物形成明显对比的是，几丁质的丰富性赋予了这种新的氧化反应出色的可扩展性。由于液体阳极产物和析氧抑制，太阳能驱动的几丁质和含几丁质的虾壳废料的电重整与安全的绿色制氢相结合。因此，我们的工作展示了一种可扩展且安全的资源升级循环和绿色制氢工艺，以实现可持续的能源未来。
