Co-production of green hydrogen and carbon materials with high electrochemical performance through molten-salt assisted pyrolysis of biomass

Nowadays, the development and utilization of renewable energy and carbon emission reduction are becoming increasingly important. The European commission has proposed a hydrogen strategy to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and implement the Paris Agreement while working towards zero pollution. China and Italy have implemented supporting policies to promote the commercialization of green hydrogen as well as the development of effective energy storage systems.

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As a renewable resource, biomass possesses the advantages of abundant reserves, low pollution and high sustainability, appealing to extensive attention of researchers. Moreover, biomass-derived carbon used as cost-effective electrodes has shown excellent potential in energy storage, such as supercapacitors and batteries. Therefore, the co- production of hydrogen and high-performance carbon materials for energy storage through biomass pyrolysis appears to be a prospective strategy.
Nevertheless, the co-production of highly valuable products from biomass pyrolysis faces big challenges:an insightful understanding of the reaction mechanism, and how to regulate and optimize the co-production process.
Therefore, this project (indicated with the acronym of GREENHYDCM) aims to co-produce green hydrogen and carbon materials with high electrochemical performance through biomass pyrolysis followed by upgrading. One of the innovations is to introduce the molten-salt assisted pyrolysis of biomass heated by solar energy. Another innovative aspect is represented by the subsequent catalytic upgrading of light and heavy fractions from volatiles. The light fraction will be used for catalytic reforming to produce hydrogen, and the heavy fraction will be carbonized directionally using bio-template method. Biochar or biocarbon will be further modified into advanced carbon electrodes for use in Na-ion batteries. Finally, the efficient conversion and high-value utilization of different species of biomass will be achieved.