RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW APPROACH THAT COMBINES BIOMASS CONVERSION, SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION
In a study published March 9 in Nature Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry Professor Kyoung-Shin Choi presents a new approach to combine solar energy conversion and biomass conversion, two important research areas for renewable energy.
For decades, scientists have been working to harness the energy from sunlight to drive chemical reactions to form fuels such as hydrogen, which provide a way to store solar energy for future use. Toward this end, many researchers have been working to develop functional, efficient and economical methods to split water into hydrogen, a clean fuel, and oxygen using photoelectrochemical solar cells (PECs). Although splitting water using an electrochemical cell requires an electrical energy input, a PEC can harness solar energy to drive the water-splitting reaction. A PEC requires a significantly reduced electrical energy input or no electrical energy at all.
In a typical hydrogen-producing PEC, water reduction at the cathode (producing hydrogen) is accompanied by water oxidation at the anode (producing oxygen). Although the purpose of the cell is not the production of oxygen, the anode reaction is necessary to complete the circuit.
Unfortunately, the rate of the water oxidation reaction is very slow, which limits the rate of the overall reaction and the efficiency of the solar-to-hydrogen conversion. Therefore, researchers are currently working to develop more efficient catalysts to facilitate the anode reaction.
Choi, along with postdoctoral researcher Hyun Gil Cha, chose to take a completely new approach to solve this problem. They developed a novel PEC setup with a new anode reaction. This anode reaction requires less energy and is faster than water oxidation while producing an industrially important chemical product. The anode reaction they employed in their study is the oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). HMF is a key intermediate in biomass conversion that can be derived from cellulose - a type of cheap and abundant plant matter. FDCA is an important molecule for the production of polymers.
Fife Geothermal welcomes today's £250,000 Energy Challenge Fund announcement
Further to today's Scottish Government launch of a £250,000 Geothermal Energy Challenge Fund
Biogas Plant in South Africa before commissioning
Last year, Beckedorf BioEnergy GmbH won the contract to deliver the design and key components for the construction of a biogas plant at the fruit juice factory of Elgin Fruit Juices, Pty., Ltd. in Grabouw, Western Cape.
The Geothermal Resources Council Announces 2015 Amateur Photo Contest
The 36th Amateur Photo Contest winners will be announced at the GRC Annual Meeting in Reno, Nevada, USA.
Nexus eWater Completes $2.1 Million Series A Funding Round
US-Australian company prepares for US market launch of disruptive product aimed at radically reducing California residential water, energy, and wastewater use
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Estimates US market opportunity to be $15 billion per year
HoSt will build a biomass power plant in Eindhoven, Netherlands
The municipality of Eindhoven will realize a new biomass power plant at the industrial park Strijp T in district Strijp. HoSt, specialist in the field of biomass energy systems, has won the tender for the construction of the plant.
Smog Eaters Are Coming To Our Roads
A reflective surface reduces smog by reflecting heat back into the atmosphere. Not only is the smog reduced, but more importantly, energy costs are lowered in big cities.
Introduction of >5KWe Cogenerating Biomass Pellet Boiler Prototype System
A revolutionary >5kWe cogen pellet boiler prototype system, designed and manufactured by ÖkoFEN, with Qnergy's Stirling engine inside, was introduced to the market. The biomass boiler is still under development and the first beta installations are expected before the end of the year to serve large residential and small to medium application requirements.
Amyris-Total Renewable Jet Fuel
Amyris' innovative bioscience technology directly converts plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules to create the renewable fuel, and the technology enables the operations of the Amyris-Total partnership to deliver the fuel from "field to wing."
Bionic Leaf Uses Bacteria To Convert Solar Energy Into Liquid Fuel
From Science 2.0: Harvesting sunlight is old technology for plants but it's a level of efficiency in solar energy we would love to be within a billion years of - artificial photosynthesis is needed if we want to go beyond the energy density of things like combustion engines.
Solar energy, using electricity from photovoltaic cells to yield hydrogen that can be later used in fuel cells, would be terrific but has technological obstacles. Now scientists have created a system that uses bacteria to convert solar energy into a liquid fuel. Their work integrates an "artificial leaf," which uses a catalyst to make sunlight split water into hydrogen and oxygen, with a bacterium engineered to convert carbon dioxide plus hydrogen into the liquid fuel isopropanol.
Pamela Silver, the Elliott T. and Onie H. Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology at HMS and an author of the paper, calls the system a bionic leaf, a nod to the artificial leaf invented by the paper's senior author, Daniel Nocera, the Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy at Harvard University.
What is helium-3?
Will China Be The First To Mine Lunar Energy?
Harvesting Energy From Heat
In the United States, more than half of the energy we burn each year gets lost as heat instead of being put to use with most of the energy going out the exhaust pipe of a car or out the smokestack of a power plant.
Creating Roads from Waste
The roads constructed using this technology are more durable and economical than the conventional bitumen roads.
The Echogen Power Systems Heat Engine
Waste Heat to Power (WHP) creates electricity by heating a fluid at high pressure, then expanding the fluid through a turbine to power an electric generator.
EPA 111(d) Clean Power Plan Could Increase Energy Efficiency Impacts, Net Benefits, and Total Value
This white paper takes a novel, nationwide approach to estimating an overall impact on emissions and cost. It sheds light on the role that energy efficiency can play as a compliance mechanism.
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