Alkaline thermal treatment of seaweed for high-purity hydrogen production with carbon capture and storage potential.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32728021.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-17627-1 and PMC identifier 7391685.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Current thermochemical methods to generate H<sub>2</sub> include gasification and steam reforming of coal and natural gas, in which anthropogenic CO<sub>2</sub> emission is inevitable. If biomass is used as a source of H<sub>2</sub>, the process can be considered carbon-neutral. Seaweeds are among the less studied types of biomass with great potential because they do not require freshwater. Unfortunately, reaction pathways to thermochemically convert salty and wet biomass into H<sub>2</sub> are limited. In this study, a catalytic alkaline thermal treatment of brown seaweed is investigated to produce high purity H<sub>2</sub> with substantially suppressed CO<sub>2</sub> formation making the overall biomass conversion not only carbon-neutral but also potentially carbon-negative. High-purity 69.69 mmol-H<sub>2</sub>/(dry-ash-free)g-brown seaweed is produced with a conversion as high as 71%. The hydroxide is involved in both H<sub>2</sub> production and in situ CO<sub>2</sub> capture, while the Ni/ZrO<sub>2</sub> catalyst enhanced the secondary H<sub>2</sub> formation via steam methane reforming and water-gas shift reactions.
Medical subject headings
- Carbon
- Hydrogen
- Renewable Energy
- Seaweed