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SUMMARY:Catalytic selective oxidation in biomass conversion - Professor Ya
 nhui YANG\, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering\, Nanyang Techno
 logical University\, Singapore
DTSTART:20160512T150000Z
DTEND:20160512T160000Z
UID:TALK65516@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alexei Lapkin
DESCRIPTION:In the global attempt to reduce carbon footprint\, the Chemica
 l and Petrochemical Industry faces the problem to replace the currently us
 ed fossil feedstock with renewable resources\, reduce energy consumption a
 nd to intensify and integrate the processes to be more carbon efficient. I
 n all three issues\, catalysis will be the key to a successful transformat
 ion. Knowledge-based development and implementation of catalytic technolog
 y will help to process the novel feedstock\, reduce the energy required fo
 r maintaining the desired process and improve the carbon efficiency of the
  targeted synthesis routes. In this seminar\, two examples will be discuss
 ed to illustrate our efforts in the last few years in biomass transformati
 on.\nThe first example is a classic heterogeneous catalysis approach in wh
 ich an integrated experimental and computational investigation reveals tha
 t the surface lattice oxygen of copper oxide activates the formyl C–H bo
 nd in glucose and incorporates itself into the glucose molecule to oxidize
  it to gluconic acid. The reduced CuO catalyst regains its structure\, mor
 phology and activity upon re-oxidation. The activity of lattice oxygen is 
 shown to be superior to that of the chemisorbed oxygen on the metal surfac
 e and the hydrogen abstraction ability of the catalyst is correlated with 
 the adsorption energy. Based on the present investigation\, it is suggeste
 d that surface lattice oxygen is critical for the oxidation of glucose to 
 gluconic acid\, without further breaking down the glucose molecule into sm
 aller fragments\, due to C–C cleavage. Using CuO as the catalyst\, excel
 lent yield of gluconic acid is also obtained for the direct oxidation of c
 ellobiose and polymeric cellulose\, as biomass substrates.\nThe selective 
 oxidation can be effectively catalyzed using noble metal nanoparticles. Ch
 oosing an appropriate support with well-defined structure and suitable sur
 face chemistry is a feasible and effective approach to make metal nanopart
 icles with specific size\, shape\, structure\, and to avoid agglomeration 
 leading to catalytic deactivation. With the intention of successfully synt
 hesizing more efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the selective oxidatio
 n\, it is extremely important to elucidate the effect of metal nanoparticl
 e configuration\, the novel nano-structured support on the catalytic activ
 ity for selective oxidation with particular highlights on the interactions
  between both metal-metal and metal-support. The second example shows the 
 Au-Pd bimetallic catalyst and its application in selective oxidation of HM
 F to FDCA. The unique structure of selected support is found to improve th
 e stabilization of the metals in the preparation as well as the reaction p
 rocess. Furthermore\, surface chemistry (metal-support interaction) and sy
 nergetic effect in the case of metal alloy catalysts (metal-metal interact
 ion) play a crucial role in controlling the catalytic performance of as-pr
 epared catalysts. Various characterizations will be carefully conducted to
  look into the insights of these catalysts’ physicochemical properties.\
 n
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre 1\, Department of Chemical Engineering  and Biote
 chnology\, New Museums Site
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