With rising energy costs and the rapidly emerging impact of burning fossil fuels on the global climate, the need for researchers to find ways to truly renewable products and fuels has never been greater.
The United States uses 20 million barrels of oil a day, which is about one-fifth of the world's use. All liquid fuels and nearly all manufacturing materials, from gasoline and gallon tanks to countertops and clothing, start with petroleum.
It is necessary to develop tools for all these components of daily life, from fossil fuels to renewable carbon sources. But according to the most optimistic forecasts, in the United States, the annual carbon harvest from biomass is only about two-thirds of the crude oil the country uses.
They have developed a chemical method that allows electricity and water to break the strong chemical bonds in biomass or plant matter, said a professor of organic chemistry in Michigan State University's College of Natural Sciences. This "electrocatalytic" process can be applied to lignin, a carbon-rich biomass component that is often discarded as a by-product of papermaking or simply burned. This new tool also has the potential to destroy environmental pollutants.
A global goal is to harness the carbon and energy stored in biomass so that it can replace oil. But new, efficient methods are needed to break down this complex, tough, low-energy material into its components for fuels and products. Specifically, tools are needed to break the strong chemical bonds that hold it together, while preserving or even enhancing as much carbon and energy content as possible.
