IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-36602-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Acidic graphene organocatalyst for the superior transformation of wastes into high-added-value chemicals

Author

Listed:
  • Aby Cheruvathoor Poulose

    (Palacký University in Olomouc)

  • Miroslav Medveď

    (Palacký University in Olomouc
    Matej Bel University)

  • Vasudeva Rao Bakuru

    (Materials Science and Catalysis Division, Poornaprajna Institute of Scientific Research)

  • Akashdeep Sharma

    (Indian Institute of Technology Jammu)

  • Deepika Singh

    (Quality Management & Instrumentation Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine)

  • Suresh Babu Kalidindi

    (AU PG Centre, Kondakarakam Village)

  • Hugo Bares

    (Palacký University in Olomouc
    Lepty, 14 avenue Pey-Berland)

  • Michal Otyepka

    (Palacký University in Olomouc
    IT4Innovations, VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava)

  • Kolleboyina Jayaramulu

    (Indian Institute of Technology Jammu)

  • Aristides Bakandritsos

    (Palacký University in Olomouc
    VŠB–Technical University of Ostrava)

  • Radek Zbořil

    (Palacký University in Olomouc
    VŠB–Technical University of Ostrava)

Abstract

Our dependence on finite fossil fuels and the insecure energy supply chains have stimulated intensive research for sustainable technologies. Upcycling glycerol, produced from biomass fermentation and as a biodiesel formation byproduct, can substantially contribute in circular carbon economy. Here, we report glycerol’s solvent-free and room-temperature conversion to high-added-value chemicals via a reusable graphene catalyst (G-ASA), functionalized with a natural amino acid (taurine). Theoretical studies unveil that the superior performance of the catalyst (surpassing even homogeneous, industrial catalysts) is associated with the dual role of the covalently linked taurine, boosting the catalyst’s acidity and affinity for the reactants. Unlike previous catalysts, G-ASA exhibits excellent activity (7508 mmol g−1 h−1) and selectivity (99.9%) for glycerol conversion to solketal, an additive for improving fuels’ quality and a precursor of commodity and fine chemicals. Notably, the catalyst is also particularly active in converting oils to biodiesel, demonstrating its general applicability.

Suggested Citation

  • Aby Cheruvathoor Poulose & Miroslav Medveď & Vasudeva Rao Bakuru & Akashdeep Sharma & Deepika Singh & Suresh Babu Kalidindi & Hugo Bares & Michal Otyepka & Kolleboyina Jayaramulu & Aristides Bakandrit, 2023. "Acidic graphene organocatalyst for the superior transformation of wastes into high-added-value chemicals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-36602-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36602-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36602-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-36602-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Is Fatimah & Imam Sahroni & Ganjar Fadillah & Muhammad Miqdam Musawwa & Teuku Meurah Indra Mahlia & Oki Muraza, 2019. "Glycerol to Solketal for Fuel Additive: Recent Progress in Heterogeneous Catalysts," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Nathan D. Shapiro & Vivek Rauniyar & Gregory L. Hamilton & Jeffrey Wu & F. Dean Toste, 2011. "Asymmetric additions to dienes catalysed by a dithiophosphoric acid," Nature, Nature, vol. 470(7333), pages 245-249, February.
    3. Robert C. Armstrong & Catherine Wolfram & Krijn P. de Jong & Robert Gross & Nathan S. Lewis & Brenda Boardman & Arthur J. Ragauskas & Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez & George Crabtree & M. V. Ramana, 2016. "The frontiers of energy," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 1-8, January.
    4. Linan Zhou & John Mark P. Martirez & Jordan Finzel & Chao Zhang & Dayne F. Swearer & Shu Tian & Hossein Robatjazi & Minhan Lou & Liangliang Dong & Luke Henderson & Phillip Christopher & Emily A. Carte, 2020. "Light-driven methane dry reforming with single atomic site antenna-reactor plasmonic photocatalysts," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 61-70, January.
    5. Wang, Yi-Tong & Yang, Xing-Xia & Xu, Jie & Wang, Hong-Li & Wang, Zi-Bing & Zhang, Lei & Wang, Shao-Long & Liang, Jing-Long, 2019. "Biodiesel production from esterification of oleic acid by a sulfonated magnetic solid acid catalyst," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 688-695.
    6. Sumit Verma & Shawn Lu & Paul J. A. Kenis, 2019. "Co-electrolysis of CO2 and glycerol as a pathway to carbon chemicals with improved technoeconomics due to low electricity consumption," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(6), pages 466-474, June.
    7. Masanori Wakizaka & Takeshi Matsumoto & Ryota Tanaka & Ho-Chol Chang, 2016. "Dehydrogenation of anhydrous methanol at room temperature by o-aminophenol-based photocatalysts," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, November.
    8. Bo Liu & Deepak Rajagopal, 2019. "Life-cycle energy and climate benefits of energy recovery from wastes and biomass residues in the United States," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(8), pages 700-708, August.
    9. Jun Ukita Shepard & Lincoln F. Pratson, 2022. "The myth of US energy independence," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(6), pages 462-464, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Larissa M. Batrancea & Horia Tulai, 2022. "Thriving or Surviving in the Energy Industry: Lessons on Energy Production from the European Economies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-16, November.
    2. Khandelwal, Akshat & Maarisetty, Dileep & Baral, Saroj Sundar, 2022. "Fundamentals and application of single-atom photocatalyst in sustainable energy and environmental applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Byun, Jaewon & Han, Jeehoon, 2021. "Economically feasible production of green methane from vegetable and fruit-rich food waste," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    4. Giani, Paolo & Tagle, Felipe & Genton, Marc G. & Castruccio, Stefano & Crippa, Paola, 2020. "Closing the gap between wind energy targets and implementation for emerging countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    5. Deepayan Debnath & Madhu Khanna & Deepak Rajagopal & David Zilberman, 2019. "The Future of Biofuels in an Electrifying Global Transportation Sector: Imperative, Prospects and Challenges," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(4), pages 563-582, December.
    6. Rasheed, Rizwan & Tahir, Fizza & Yasar, Abdullah & Sharif, Faiza & Tabinda, Amtul Bari & Ahmad, Sajid Rashid & Wang, Yubo & Su, Yuehong, 2022. "Environmental life cycle analysis of a modern commercial-scale fibreglass composite-based biogas scrubbing system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1261-1271.
    7. Oei, Pao-Yu & Hermann, Hauke & Herpich, Philipp & Holtemöller, Oliver & Lünenbürger, Benjamin & Schult, Christoph, 2020. "Coal phase-out in Germany – Implications and policies for affected regions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    8. Yang, Ruiyue & Hong, Chunyang & Liu, Wei & Wu, Xiaoguang & Wang, Tianyu & Huang, Zhongwei, 2021. "Non-contaminating cryogenic fluid access to high-temperature resources: Liquid nitrogen fracturing in a lab-scale Enhanced Geothermal System," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 125-138.
    9. Jiajie Hou & Bingjun Xu & Qi Lu, 2024. "Influence of electric double layer rigidity on CO adsorption and electroreduction rate," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    10. Peng, Valerie & Slocum, Alexander, 2020. "Endemic Water and Storm Trash to energy via in-situ processing," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    11. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Martiskainen, Mari & Furszyfer Del Rio, Dylan D., 2021. "Knowledge, energy sustainability, and vulnerability in the demographics of smart home technology diffusion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    12. Wei Liu & Pengbo Zhai & Aowen Li & Bo Wei & Kunpeng Si & Yi Wei & Xingguo Wang & Guangda Zhu & Qian Chen & Xiaokang Gu & Ruifeng Zhang & Wu Zhou & Yongji Gong, 2022. "Electrochemical CO2 reduction to ethylene by ultrathin CuO nanoplate arrays," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Han, Jeehoon & Byun, Jaewon & Kwon, Oseok & Lee, Jechan, 2022. "Climate variability and food waste treatment: Analysis for bioenergy sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    14. Tayebi, Meysam & Lee, Byeong-Kyu, 2019. "Recent advances in BiVO4 semiconductor materials for hydrogen production using photoelectrochemical water splitting," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 332-343.
    15. Zailan, Roziah & Lim, Jeng Shiun & Manan, Zainuddin Abdul & Alwi, Sharifah Rafidah Wan & Mohammadi-ivatloo, Behnam & Jamaluddin, Khairulnadzmi, 2021. "Malaysia scenario of biomass supply chain-cogeneration system and optimization modeling development: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    16. Liu, Xianglei & Cheng, Bo & Zhu, Qibin & Gao, Ke & Sun, Nan & Tian, Cheng & Wang, Jiaqi & Zheng, Hangbin & Wang, Xinrui & Dang, Chunzhuo & Xuan, Yimin, 2022. "Highly efficient solar-driven CO2 reforming of methane via concave foam reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    17. Jiaqi Zhao & Jinjia Liu & Zhenhua Li & Kaiwen Wang & Run Shi & Pu Wang & Qing Wang & Geoffrey I. N. Waterhouse & Xiaodong Wen & Tierui Zhang, 2023. "Ruthenium-cobalt single atom alloy for CO photo-hydrogenation to liquid fuels at ambient pressures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    18. Yu, Bo & Liu, Xueqing & Ji, Chao & Sun, Hua, 2023. "Greenhouse gas mitigation strategies and decision support for the utilization of agricultural waste systems: A case study of Jiangxi Province, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    19. Ren, Lei & Zhou, Sheng & Ou, Xunmin, 2023. "The carbon reduction potential of hydrogen in the low carbon transition of the iron and steel industry: The case of China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    20. Saengprachum, Nisakorn & Cai, Dongren & Li, Mantian & Li, Ling & Lin, Xiaocheng & Qiu, Ting, 2019. "Acidic chitosan membrane as an efficient catalyst for biodiesel production from oleic acid," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1488-1499.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-36602-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.