Biofuels researchers have continuously worked to develop a self-sustaining technique to convert renewable carbon sources into fuels while eliminating carbon from our environment and water. Despite significant progress, it has proven difficult to complete the clean energy cycle. Now a group of researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has developed a system that does just that. PNNL’s electrocatalytic oxidation fuel recovery system converts diluted waste carbon into valuable compounds while simultaneously producing useful hydrogen, previously thought to be non-recoverable. The procedure is CO2-neutral or even CO2-negative because renewable energy is used.
An elegantly designed catalyst combines billions of infinitesimal metal particles and an electric current to accelerate energy conversion at room temperature and pressure.
Juan A. Lopez-Ruiz, a chemical engineer and PNNL project leader, said current methods of treating biocrude require the use of high-pressure hydrogen, which is typically generated from natural gas. This system can generate hydrogen while treating wastewater at near-atmospheric temperatures using excess renewable energy, making it cheap to run and potentially carbon neutral.
The research team tested the system in the lab and used a sample of wastewater from an industrial-scale biomass conversion process for more than 200 hours of continuous operation with no loss of efficiency. The only limitation was that the research team’s wastewater sample ran out.
The patent-pending system solves several problems that have plagued efforts to make biomass an economically viable source of renewable energy, Lopez-Ruiz said.
Lopez-Ruiz said that while people understand how to convert biomass into fuel, they continue to struggle to make the process energy efficient, cost effective and environmentally sustainable, especially on a small, dispersed scale. However, this new system is powered by electricity, which can be generated from renewable sources. It also produces its own heat and fuel to keep it running. It may be able to complete the energy recovery cycle.
The Clean Sustainable Electrochemical Treatment or CleanSET technology is available for licensing by other companies or municipalities interested in developing it for industry-specific applications in municipal wastewater treatment plants, dairy farms, breweries, chemical manufacturers and food and beverage manufacturers.