Mechanisms of electrochemical hydrogenation of aromatic compound mixtures over a bimetallic PtRu catalyst
Date published
Free to read from
Authors
Supervisor/s
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department
Type
ISSN
Format
Citation
Abstract
Efficient electrochemical hydrogenation (ECH) of organic compounds is essential for sustainability, promoting chemical feedstock circularity and synthetic fuel production. This study investigates the ECH of benzoic acid, phenol, guaiacol, and their mixtures, key components in upgradeable oils, using a carbon-supported PtRu catalyst under varying initial concentrations, temperatures, and current densities. Phenol achieved the highest conversion (83.17%) with a 60% Faradaic efficiency (FE). In mixtures, benzoic acid + phenol yielded the best performance (64.19% conversion, 74% FE), indicating a synergistic effect. Notably, BA consistently exhibited 100% selectivity for cyclohexane carboxylic acid (CCA) across all conditions. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that parallel adsorption of BA on the cathode (−1.12 eV) is more stable than perpendicular positioning (-0.58 eV), explaining the high selectivity for CCA. These findings provide a foundation for future developments in ECH of real pyrolysis oil.
Description
Software Description
Software Language
Github
Keywords
DOI
Rights
Relationships
Relationships
Resources
Funder/s
The authors would like to thank EPSRC (EP/T518104/1) and Cranfield University for their support.