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Title Enabling circular economy by N-recovery: Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate with cobalt hydroxide nanocomposites on copper foam treating low conductivity groundwater effluents
ID_Doc 22653
Authors Cerrón-Calle, GA; Fajardo, AS; Liu, JY; Sánchez-Sánchez, CM; Garcia-Segura, S
Title Enabling circular economy by N-recovery: Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate with cobalt hydroxide nanocomposites on copper foam treating low conductivity groundwater effluents
Year 2023
Published
DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163938
Abstract Fertilizers play a vital role in the food-energy-water nexus. The traditional method of artificial nitrogen fixation to pro-duce ammonia is a high-energy intensive centralized process that has caused an imbalance of the N-cycle due to the release of N-species to water. Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction (ENR) to ammonia is a promising N-resource recovery alternative that can enable the circular reuse of ammonia in decentralized settings. However, the primary challenge is identifying selective and affordable electrocatalysts. Identifying electrodes that rely on something other than platinum -group metals is required to surpass barriers associated with using expensive and endangered elements. In this study, an earth-abundant bimetallic catalyst, Cu/Co(OH)x, prepared and optimized by electrodeposition, demonstrates superior ammonia production. Under environmentally relevant conditions of 30 mg NO3--N L-1, Cu/Co(OH)x showed higher ammonia production than pristine Cu foam with 0.7 and 0.3 mmol NH3 gcat -1 h-1, respectively. The experimental eval-uation demonstrated direct reduction and catalytic hydrogenation mechanisms in Cu/Co(OH)x sites. Leaching analyses suggest that Cu/Co(OH)x has outstanding stability with negligible metal concentration below the maximum contami-nant level for both Cu and Co. These results provide a framework for using earth-abundant materials in ENR with com-parable efficiency and energy consumption to platinum-group materials.
Author Keywords Electrochemical water treatment; Nitrogen cycle; Bimetallic catalysts; Non-platinum group metals (non-PGMs); Hydrogenation; Green chemistry
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
EID WOS:001002539900001
WoS Category Environmental Sciences
Research Area Environmental Sciences & Ecology
PDF http://manuscript.elsevier.com/S0048969723025597/pdf/S0048969723025597.pdf
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