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Figure 7.7
Aluminium electrolytic capacitor
7.2 Electrochemical Conversion
of Biomass to Valuable Materials
Biomass is a renewable organic resource and
therefore it does not cause a depletion problem,
unlike fossil resources such as petroleum and
coal. In the 21st century, the social demands of
the effective utilization of biomass, which can
be transformed to high-performance chemicals
and fuels, have rapidly increased. Chemical
transformation of biomass has to be performed
using energy conservation technology and with
low emissions, and accordingly various trials to
achieve such goals have been carried out using
catalytic and enzymatic reactions. As
mentioned earlier, electrochemical reactions
have the advantage of both energy conservation
and low emissions. Intensive study of the
electrochemical processes applied to the
chemical transformation of biomass started
more than 30 years ago, and the transformation
of biomass to high-performance chemicals was
investigated as a national project in the USA
[10]. Today, the study of biomass
transformation is increasingly important.
The main components of plant-based biomass
are cellulose and lignin, which are polymers.
Since neither of these are suitable for
electrolysis because of their insolubility in
solvents like water, biomass transformation to
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