Research Projects

The development of a sustainable circular economy based on renewable raw materials as an alternative to the unsustainable use of fossil fuels will be significantly aided by the supported metal NPs catalysts and theoretical knowledge of the catalytic conversion of biomass into chemicals. However, biomass-derived products may behave as ligands, obstructing and leaching the metal centres leading to catalyst deactivation by using common acid-base supported catalysts. As a result, up gradation of biomass resources into value added commodities requires the employment of novel chemistries and specifically designed catalysts. This proposed study will use the well defined solid biopolymers as support for the development of biopolymeric supported metal and bimetallic NPs (BMNPs) catalysts in a large scale through mechanochemical solid grinding via simple mortar and pestle/ball milling. In contrast to conventional solution phase synthesis, the mechanochemical interaction between the support biopolymer and metal NPs may significantly modify the structural properties of the interface during solid grinding. This modified interface structure at nanoscale could greatly enhance the catalytic properties of the biopolymeric supported metal NPs. As a results, this novel biopolymeric supported catalysts will be employed for the conversion of selected biomass model compounds into value added chemicals and fuels via hydrdeoxygenations, hydrogenations, dehydrogenations and selective oxidations reactions under much milder reaction conditions. This proposed study will also use quantum mechanical calculation and atomistic simulations to understand the interaction of biomass model substrates with biopolymer supported metal catalysts and reaction mechanisms, which, combined with experimental work, will pave the development of well defined catalysts for the conversion of biomass into chemicals and fuels.