Green hydrogen generation assisted by electroreforming of raw sugarcane bagasse waste

• Published in: Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource : GC Vol. 25; no. 19; pp. 777 - 772
• Main Authors: Lee, Li Quan, Zhao, Hu, Lim, Tian Yee, Junyu, Ge, Ding, Ovi Lian, Liu, Wen, Li, Hong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 02.10.2023
• Subjects: Bagasse; Biomass; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; Carbon sequestration; Chemicals; Climate change; Cogeneration; Configuration management; Decarbonization; Electricity; Fossil fuels; Global warming; Green chemistry; Green hydrogen; Hydrogen; Hydrogen production; Life cycle analysis; Life cycle assessment; Life cycles; Management methods; Oxygen; Photovoltaics; Reforming; Sugarcane; Sustainable development; Waste management
• ISSN: 1463-9262; 1463-9270
• DOI: 10.1039/d3gc01603j

Biomass is widely acknowledged as a renewable and abundant substitute for fossil fuels that is considered CO 2 -neutral. Thermal process-based energy extraction without proper carbon capture and storage still dominates biomass utilization and inevitably results in CO 2 emission. It is appealing to develop a greener biowaste utilization method. Recently, biomass-derived small molecules were reported to be electrochemically reformed into valuable chemicals in a green process under ambient conditions. However, the reforming of raw biomass is still challenging, owing to its rigid and chemically stable structure. Herein, direct electroreforming of sugarcane bagasse waste for cogeneration of green hydrogen and valuable chemicals is reported. Having suppressed oxygen evolution and thus avoided hydrogen-oxygen mixture formation, our electroreforming process could be directly driven by photovoltaic electricity, presenting a safe and low-carbon route to green hydrogen and chemicals from raw biomass. Additionally, life cycle assessment shows that the electroreforming upcycling process driven by photovoltaic electricity and waste heat affords the lowest global warming potential amongst various process configurations, including conventional waste management methods, promising for decarbonisation and sustainable development. An efficient and environmentally friendly pretreatment-electrochemical upcycling process for sugarcane bagasse waste to cogenerate green hydrogen and formate.