Hydrothermal catalytic production of fuels and chemicals from aquatic biomass

One of the promising avenues for biomass processing is the use of water as a reaction medium for wet or aquatic biomass. This review focuses on the hydrothermal catalytic production of fuels and chemicals from aquatic biomass. Two different regimes for conversion of aquatic biomass in hydrothermal conditions are discussed in detail. The first is hydrothermal liquefaction, and the second is hydrothermal gasification. The goals of these processes are to produce liquid‐fuel‐range hydrocarbons and methane or hydrogen, respectively. The catalytic upgrading of biocrude resulting from noncatalytic liquefaction and the stability and degradation of catalysts in high temperature water are also discussed. The review concludes with a brief discussion of the outlook for and opportunities within the field of hydrothermal catalytic valorization of biomass. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Plasmonic-metal nanostructures for efficient conversion of solar to chemical energy

Recent years have seen a renewed interest in the harvesting and conversion of solar energy. Among various technologies, the direct conversion of solar to chemical energy using photocatalysts has received significant attention. Although heterogeneous photocatalysts are almost exclusively semiconductors, it has been demonstrated recently that plasmonic nanostructures of noble metals (mainly silver and gold) also show significant promise. Here we review recent progress in using plasmonic metallic nanostructures in the field of photocatalysis. We focus on plasmon-enhanced water splitting on composite photocatalysts containing semiconductor and plasmonic-metal building blocks, and recently reported plasmon-mediated photocatalytic reactions on plasmonic nanostructures of noble metals. We also discuss the areas where major advancements are needed to move the field of plasmon-mediated photocatalysis forward.     

Hydrocarbon steam reforming on Ni alloys at solid oxide fuel cell operating conditions

We demonstrate that supported Sn/Ni alloy catalyst is more resistant to deactivation via carbon deposition than supported monometallic Ni catalyst in steam reforming of isooctane at moderate steam to carbon ratios, irrespective of the average size of metal particles and the metal loading. The experiments were performed for average diameters of catalytic particles ranging from 30 to 500 nm and for the loading of active material ranging from 15 to 44 wt% with respect to the total mass of catalyst. The steam reforming reactions were performed at conditions that are consistent with typical solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operating conditions. DFT calculations show that the reasons for the enhanced carbon-tolerance of Sn/Ni compared to monometallic Ni are high propensity of Sn/Ni to oxidize carbon and lower driving force to form carbon deposits on low-coordinated metal sites.