SOURCE: madrimasd.org and Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (CSIC)
A recent study conducted at the University of Cambridge has shown that unprocessed biomass (sawdust, vegetable leaves, cereal asparagus) can easily be converted to clean hydrogen by illuminating an aqueous solution with sunlight alkaline in which the suspended biomass remains and to which particles of a photocatalyst are added. The process operates under very mild conditions, that is, environmental pressure and temperature, which contrasts with conventional technology for obtaining hydrogen from biomass by gasification. The disadvantage of this process is that the rate of hydrogen formation is very low.
Lignocellulose, which is the main component of the planet's biomass, was the origin of the oil reserves. But oil reserves have been decreasing significantly in recent decades.
This technology, which has been published in the magazine Nature Energy 2, 17021 (2017) (doi: 10.1038 / nenergy.2017.21) basically consists of a simple photocatalytic conversion process.
Read complete news: http://www.madrimasd.org/blogs/energiasalternativas/2017/05/17/133503