CARBON GEL-BASED CARRIERS AND CATALYSTS
UDC 544.478; 66.097
Abstract
New promising technologies for producing chemical products and biofuels from renewable raw materials-lignocellulosic biomass are based on catalytic processes. Most biomass conversion processes are carried out in aqueous and aqueous-organic medium, requiring the use of water-tolerant catalysts. These include carbon catalysts, particularly those based on biochars obtained by carbonizing plant materials. However, the disadvantages of biochar-based carbon materials, such as the presence of impurities, low strength, and difficulty in regulating their pore structure, stimulate research into producing synthetic carbon materials with the desired properties. These new materials include porous carbon gels produced by carbonization of organic monomers (aerogels, cryogels, and xerogels). Carbon gels can be obtained in various forms (granules, powders, films) with controlled micro-, meso-, and macroporous structures and densities. This review examines the properties of carbon gels obtained using synthetic and natural phenolic compounds, as well as solid acidic and metal-containing catalysts based on them.
Carbon gels obtained by carbonization of formaldehyde polycondensation products with synthetic phenolic compounds, such as resorcinol and phenol, have been studied in greatest detail. In recent years, research into the synthesis of carbon gels based on natural polyphenolic substances – tannins and lignin – has been actively developing. The use of wood lignin and bark tannins reduces the cost of the resulting gels and improves the environmental safety of their production. By varying the nature of coniferous polyphenols and crosslinking agents, as well as synthesis conditions, a range of porous carbon gels has been obtained, differing in density, porosity, specific surface area, and micro-meso-macropore ratio.
To date, various methods for synthesizing metal-containing carbon gels based on synthetic precursors, primarily resorcinol and formaldehyde, have been proposed and described. Three main methods are used to incorporate metals into the carbon framework: depositing a metal compound on an organic or carbon gel; dissolving the metal compound in the mixture used to synthesize the organic gel; and adding a compound with metal ion binding sites to the initial mixture or organic gel.
The resulting metal-containing carbon gels are increasingly used in a variety of catalytic processes: hydrogenation, isomerization, hydrogenolysis, electrochemical oxygen reduction, photodegradation of dyes, and others. However, there is not enough data in the literature on the use of such catalysts in conversion of biomass and its components. There is also no data on the synthesis of metal-containing carbon catalysts based on plant-derived polyphenols-tannins and lignin. It can be expected that such catalysts will be in demand in many processes of converting biomass into valuable chemical products.
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