Electrochemical Recovery and Reuse of Hydrogen Iodide For Biomass Processing into Liquid Fuels

摘要

Biomass is traditionally converted to liquid fuels by either fermentation or pyrolysis. Ethanol by fermentation is limited to a 67% yield due to the loss of one-third (1/3) of the available carbon as CO_2 gas. Pyrolytic reactions also lose carbon as gases and char but may achieve about 80% carbon conversion. There remains a need for a variety of fuels from many sources, especially conventional liquid fuels for transportation purposes. To resolve this fuel problem with a renewable resource, a multistep chemical process was envisioned. The use of selective reductions to convert the principle components of biomass, cellulose and hemicellulose, into hydrocarbon fuels allows for 100% carbon conversion by keeping the carbon chain intact. Overall, a 6-carbon sugar polymer like cellulose affords a 6-carbon hydrocarbon product such as hexene or hexane.