New Catalyst Could Improve Biofuels Production

Article:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141016100315.htm

Source: Washington State University

Date: October 16

While fossil fuels take millions of years to form, biofuels are renewable and are composed of recently dead biological matter, making them highly sought after. However, one challenge industry leaders face is that when biofuels are made, it is difficult to remove oxygen while leaving carbon. A high oxygen content makes biofuel less stable and efficient than fossil fuels and unsuitable for airplane or diesel fuels. Even though iron catalysts function well when removing oxygen from plant-based materials, it can stop working when it interacts with water and rusts. On the other hand, palladium can work in water, but it simply does not function as efficiently as when iron is used and the metal itself is very expensive.

Researchers at Washington State University have developed a mixture of two metals, iron along with a tiny amount of palladium, to serve as a catalyst to efficiently and cheaply remove oxygen. They found that adding extremely small amounts of palladium to iron helped cover the surface of the catalyst with hydrogen, speeding up the reaction and making it work better. It also prevented water from interrupting the reactions. Additionally, it minimized the hydrogen consumption needed to remove the oxygen. “When combined, the catalyst is far better than the metals alone in terms of activity, stability and selectivity," Professor Yong Wang, the leader of the project, states.  

This article relates to our units on matter and energy and ecology. Catalysts are proteins that increase the speed up chemical reactions. The macromolecules mentioned in the article increase the rate at which oxygen is removed from plant matter so that a higher amount of the desired fuel product can be produced. In class, we studied how the enzyme catalase (which is also a catalyst) catalyzes the reaction of H₂O₂ breaking into H₂O and O₂ and what factors affect it. In addition, the biofuels that are produced with the catalysts relate to conservation biology. By using biofuels, less fossil fuels will be burned, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and slowing down global warming. The discovery of this new catalyst could potentially be a scientific breakthrough that will greatly help maintain biodiversity on Earth.