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Chemoenzymatic Photoreforming: A Sustainable Approach for Solar Fuel Generation from Plastic Feedstocks.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

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Authors

Bhattacharjee, Subhajit 
Guo, Chengzhi 
Holstein, Josephin M 
Rangel Pereira, Mariana 

Abstract

Plastic upcycling through catalytic transformations is an attractive concept to valorize waste, but the clean and energy-efficient production of high-value products from plastics remains challenging. Here, we introduce chemoenzymatic photoreforming as a process coupling enzymatic pretreatment and solar-driven reforming of polyester plastics under mild temperatures and pH to produce clean H2 and value-added chemicals. Chemoenzymatic photoreforming demonstrates versatility in upcycling polyester films and nanoplastics to produce H2 at high yields reaching ∼103-104 μmol gsub-1 and activities at >500 μmol gcat-1 h-1. Enzyme-treated plastics were also used as electron donors for photocatalytic CO2-to-syngas conversion with a phosphonated cobalt bis(terpyridine) catalyst immobilized on TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2|CotpyP). Finally, techno-economic analyses reveal that the chemoenzymatic photoreforming approach has the potential to drastically reduce H2 production costs to levels comparable to market prices of H2 produced from fossil fuels while maintaining low CO2-equivalent emissions.

Description

Keywords

34 Chemical Sciences, 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

Journal Title

J Am Chem Soc

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0002-7863
1520-5126

Volume Title

145

Publisher

American Chemical Society (ACS)
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P024947/1)
BBSRC (BB/T003545/1)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (839763)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) ERC (966581)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/X00306X/1)
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