Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Even though hydrogen possesses the highest energy content per unit weight compared to any of the known fuels, and burns cleanly, it does not exist in the free form. An economically viable way to obtain hydrogen from renewable sources will provide a good alternative to the present world-wide reliance on fossil fuels. There is a huge opportunity to develop the capacity to use components derived from non-purified, non-food biomass derived feed materials for hydrogen production because this would ease the pressure in using food based biomass, eliminate the huge amount of energy required for purification, and provide added benefit for converting wastes to value added products. These components could be derived from non-intensive processes for conversion of cellulosic materials to oxygenated hydrocarbons (i.e. not specific to ethanol alone) easily at a low cost. Also, the oxygenated hydrocarbons could be obtained as wastes from biodiesel production. These multiple sources of oxygenated hydrocarbons ensures that the hydrogen production process can manage feedstock supply and volatility. Furthermore, in order to derive an additional advantage from the use of biomass materials to achieve huge environmental benefits, CO2 capture must be incorporated in the process. This will ensure that we not merely achieve a net zero emissions, but actually use the process to extract CO2 that already exists in the atmosphere. Our objectives are to: (i) develop a high performance catalyst for the reforming of any non-food or waste biomass derived crude mixtures of liquid oxygenated hydrocarbons including higher alcohols, organic acids, glycerol, etc., (ii) develop the process conditions as well as integration and optimization strategies for the process, and (iii) develop and incorporate a CO2 capture strategy for the production of the cleanest fuel, hydrogen.