General technology for hydrogen production from biomass

When a voltage is applied between the anode and cathode for electrolysis, the reduced POM loses electrons and gradually reoxidizes back to the initial state. The color of the solution changes back to yellow on the anode side, and the hydrogen bubbles are released from the cathode electrode.

Li et al. recently reported a self-powered biomass hydrogen production process that combines fuel cells and electrolytic cells. In this process, the electricity generated by the biomass fuel cell is used in an integrated electrolytic cell to release the hydrogen, thus avoiding the dependence of conventional electrolysis on an external power source. In an integrated cell system, POM is the catalyst for rapid oxidation of glucose to CO2 and oxidation products, which are eventually automatically regenerated during electrolysis. This process designs a unique "shared cell" in which the Fe3+/Fe2+ REDOX reaction takes place, acting as the cathode of the fuel cell and the anode of the electrolyzer, respectively, as shown in Figure 5. The process can effectively convert biomass to hydrogen at 85 ℃, and the hydrogen productivity is 0.0432 mL· m-3 · min-1.