Mechanistic Insights Underlying the Valorization of Biogenic Resources to Co-produce Sustainable Fuels and Carbonaceous Products
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Despite the abundance of biogenic waste materials, their value is greatly underutilized. Valorizing these resources remains a promising but underexplored avenue to advance a sustainable climate, energy, and environmental future. Alkaline thermal processes, by which biomass is reacted with alkaline resources (such as Ca(OH)2, KOH, K2CO3) are of particular interest. Alkaline Thermal Treatment (ATT) occurs around 500°C, generating high purity H2 gas through catalytic decomposition and volatile reforming, while CO2 emissions are suppressed in the formation of a solid mixture of carbonate (e.g. CaCO3) and biochar. At higher temperatures (~900°C), the process of Alkaline Thermal Graphitization (ATG) can co-produce syn-gas and porous graphitic carbon (PGC) by the combined chemical activation, catalytic graphitization and volatile cracking. The production of gaseous energy carriers and carbon materials can help to enable a clean energy transition. However, scalable realization of these multiphase reaction pathways requires fundamental insight into the underlying chemical conversions.