Chemists harness electricity to create biomass-based building blocks
Why it matters: This breakthrough makes sustainable chemical production safer, cheaper, and more accessible, reducing reliance on hazardous materials.
- Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and Utrecht University chemists developed a new, safer method to create 2(5H)-furanone from furfural, a liquid derived from plant-based residues.
- Dmitri Pirgach, a Ph.D. candidate at Wageningen, successfully produced 2(5H)-furanone using an electrochemical reactor, avoiding the direct use of toxic liquid bromine.
- Harry Bitter, Professor of Biobased Chemistry and Technology, highlights that bromine is only formed and immediately consumed during the reaction, eliminating the need for its storage and transport, which significantly improves process safety.
- The new method utilizes relatively harmless bromide salts and a simpler, undivided electrochemical cell design, which is more cost-effective and energy-efficient than previous attempts using costly membrane-separated reactors.
Chemists at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and Utrecht University have pioneered an electrochemical method to produce 2(5H)-furanone, a crucial biomass-derived building block for plastics and pharmaceuticals, from agricultural waste. This innovative process eliminates the need for hazardous liquid bromine and simplifies reactor design, significantly enhancing safety and efficiency compared to conventional and previous electrochemical approaches.
