Abstract
Electrochemical reactions powered by renewable electricity are an important means of reducing the carbon footprint of large-scale chemical processes. Here, we investigate the efficient conversion of biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), an important building block in the polymer and pharmaceutical industries, using a cheap and abundant nickel-based electrocatalyst. We elucidate the key factors for tuning the chemical selectivity for HMF oxidation over the competing oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the catalyst surface. We show that the selectivity for HMF oxidation is enhanced by removing trace impurities of iron species as well as adjusting the composition of the alkali hydroxide electrolyte solution. LiOH solution without iron impurities is more favorable for HMF oxidation, whereas CsOH solution with iron species present is more active for the OER and unfavorable for HMF oxidation. Under optimized conditions, HMF oxidation in 1 M LiOH electrolyte solution without iron (pH 14) achieved 98% faradaic efficiency for the production of FDCA. The principles used in this work can be applied to other electrosynthetic reactions, in particular where the OER is the main competing side reaction.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 8061-8068 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Green Chemistry |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 20 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 21 Oct 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021.
Funding
The University of Zurich and the University Research Priority Program (URPP) LightChEC are gratefully acknowledged for funding. The UZH-Center for Microscopy and Image Analysis and Jonas Zurflüh for HPLC analysis are acknowledged for their service. The Institute of Advanced Materials from Universitat Jaume I acknowledges Generalitat Valencia under project- GRISOLIAP/2018/A/070 and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under project ENE2017-85087-C3-1-R for financial support. The University of Zurich and the University Research Priority Program (URPP) LightChEC are gratefully acknowledged for funding. The UZH-Center for Microscopy and Image Analysis and Jonas Zurflüh for HPLC analysis are acknowledged for their service. The Institute of Advanced Materials from Universitat Jaume I acknowledges Generalitat Valencia under project-GRISOLIAP/2018/A/070 and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under project ENE2017-85087-C3-1-R for financial support.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| UZH-Center | |
| Universitat Jaume I acknowledges Generalitat Valencia | project-GRISOLIAP/2018/A/070 |
| Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad | ENE2017-85087-C3-1-R |
| Universität Zürich |
