Photocatalytic valorisation of real-world substrates

Kathryn Ralphs, Junhong Liu, Lan Lan, Christopher Hardacre, Nathan Skillen and Peter K. J. Robertson
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Abstract

There are several key environmental sustainability challenges that the world needs to address over the next thirty years, particularly against the backdrop of achieving global net carbon zero emission this century. In addition to reducing global carbon emissions, the provision of clean “green” energy, reduction of water pollution and production of high value chemicals in a sustainable manner are clear priorities for sustainable economic growth. The photocatalytic valorisation of real-world substrates (waste biomass, plastic pollution and wastewater) is an opportunity to contribute significantly towards tackling water pollution, cutting CO2 emissions and contributing to sustainably producing value added chemicals and hydrogen from waste materials and water contaminants/pollutants. To date, however, research is critically lagging in terms of the utilization of actual real-world substrates and instead concentrates on much simpler model compounds such as sugars, monomers, dyes and individual pollutants. Lack of progress in this field is further exacerbated by the general lack of scaling up of photocatalytic technology. Nevertheless, there are some pioneers who have explored the photocatalytic valorization of real-world waste materials which have been highlighted in this review. This review considers the application of semiconductor photocatalysis for such applications with a particular focus on valorisation of waste biomass (e.g. cardboard, grass, wood), plastic pollution (e.g. plastic bottles) and wastewater effluents (e.g. from juice processing factories) to produce hydrogen and value-added chemicals. Current engineering aspects are reviewed and discussed. A perspective of the role of photocatalysis in the circular economy is also discussed and an overall perspective and future outlook is presented.

真实底物的光催化增值
在未来三十年,特别是在本世纪实现全球净零碳排放的背景下,世界需要解决几个关键的环境可持续性挑战。除了减少全球碳排放外,以可持续的方式提供清洁的“绿色”能源、减少水污染和生产高价值化学品是可持续经济增长的明确优先事项。现实世界底物(废弃生物质、塑料污染和废水)的光催化增值是一个机会,可以为解决水污染、减少二氧化碳排放以及从废物和水污染物/污染物中可持续地生产增值化学品和氢做出重大贡献。然而,到目前为止,在利用实际的现实世界底物方面的研究严重滞后,而是集中在更简单的模型化合物上,如糖、单体、染料和单个污染物。由于普遍缺乏扩大光催化技术的规模,这一领域缺乏进展进一步加剧。然而,也有一些先驱者已经探索了现实世界中废物的光催化增值,这在本文中得到了重点介绍。本文综述了半导体光催化在这类应用中的应用,特别关注废弃生物质(如纸板、草、木材)、塑料污染(如塑料瓶)和废水(如果汁加工厂)的增值,以产生氢和增值化学品。当前工程方面的审查和讨论。对光催化在循环经济中的作用进行了展望,并对其发展前景进行了展望。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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