Wotton Alexander, Yeung Tracey, Jennepalli Sreenu, Teh Zhi Li, Pickford Russell, Huang Shujuan, Conibeer Gavin, Stride John A, Patterson Robert John
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Engineering, University of New South Wales, Anzac Parade, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia.
School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Anzac Parade, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia.
ACS Omega. 2021 Apr 14;6(16):10790-10800. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c00393. eCollection 2021 Apr 27.
Breakdown and utilization of cellulose are critical for the bioenergy sector; however, current cellulose-to-energy conversion schemes often consume large quantities of unrecoverable chemicals, or are expensive, due to the need for enzymes or high temperatures. In this paper, we demonstrate a new method for converting cellulose into soluble compounds using a mixture of Fe and Fe as catalytic centers for the breakdown, yielding FeO nanoparticles during the hydrothermal process. Iron precursors transformed more than 61% of microcrystalline cellulose into solutes, with the composition of the solute changing with the initial Fe concentration. The primary products of the breakdown of cellulose were a range of aldaric acids with different molecular weights. The nanoparticles have concentration-dependent tuneable sizes between 6.7 and 15.8 nm in diameter. The production of value-added nanomaterials at low temperatures improves upon the economics of traditional cellulose-to-energy conversion schemes with the precursor value increasing rather than deteriorating over time.
纤维素的分解与利用对生物能源领域至关重要；然而，当前的纤维素到能源的转化方案通常会消耗大量不可回收的化学物质，或者由于需要酶或高温而成本高昂。在本文中，我们展示了一种新方法，利用铁和铁的混合物作为分解的催化中心，将纤维素转化为可溶性化合物，在水热过程中生成FeO纳米颗粒。铁前驱体将超过61%的微晶纤维素转化为溶质，溶质的组成随初始铁浓度而变化。纤维素分解的主要产物是一系列不同分子量的醛糖二酸。这些纳米颗粒直径在6.7至15.8纳米之间，尺寸可随浓度调节。在低温下生产增值纳米材料改善了传统纤维素到能源转化方案的经济性，前驱体价值随时间增加而非降低。
