Making Green Hydrogen from Sugarcane

A technology has been developed to produce hydrogen using sugarcane waste and sunlight.



The Ulsan Institute of Science (UNIST) Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering Professors Jang Ji-wook and Seo Kwan-yong's team, together with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering Professor Cho Seung-ho's team, have developed a technology that can produce hydrogen using biomass from sugarcane waste and silicon photoelectrodes.



This technology produces hydrogen using only sunlight without external power, and the hydrogen production speed is four times faster than the commercialization standard set by the U.S. Department of Energy.



Schematic diagram of a high-efficiency dual hydrogen production system using only sunlight. [Photo = UNIST]



Hydrogen does not emit greenhouse gases when burned. It is a next-generation fuel that can store 2.7 times more energy per weight than gasoline. Most of the hydrogen currently produced is extracted from natural gas, which generates a lot of carbon dioxide in the process.



The research team developed a photoelectrochemical system that produces hydrogen without carbon dioxide emissions using furfural from sugarcane waste. When furfural is oxidized at the copper electrode, hydrogen is produced, and the remaining substance is changed into furoic acid, a high value-added substance.



This system produces hydrogen at both electrodes. Water is also decomposed at the silicon photoelectrode, which is the opposite electrode. Thanks to this, the production speed can theoretically be twice as fast as that of a typical photoelectrochemical system.



In this system, hydrogen production begins when the photoelectrode absorbs sunlight to create electrons. Crystalline silicon photoelectrodes can create many electrons, which is advantageous for hydrogen production, but the generated voltage is low, making it difficult to cause a hydrogen production reaction alone without an external power source.



The research team solved this problem by causing a furfural oxidation reaction at the opposite side to balance the system's voltage. While maintaining the high photocurrent density, which is an advantage of crystalline silicon photoelectrode materials, the voltage burden of the entire system was reduced, allowing hydrogen to be produced without an external power source.



Professor Jang Ji-wook said, "This technology can play an important role in increasing the economic feasibility of solar hydrogen and securing price competitiveness compared to fossil fuel-based hydrogen, as the solar-based hydrogen production speed is four times faster than the commercialization standard of the U.S. Department of Energy."



The results of this study (paper title: Coupling furfural oxidation for bias-free hydrogen production using crystalline silicon photoelectrodes) were published in the international academic journal 'Nature Communications' on March 19.





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