The move to sustainable alternatives to liquid fossil fuels for transportation is a crucial objective, both from an environmental perspective as well as to ensure future energy security. Bioethanol is widely used as an alternative to gasoline; however, it suffers from several drawbacks including a lower energy density than gasoline, separation problems and corrosivity to existing engine technology and fuel infrastructure. By contrast, butanol isomers have fuel characteristics much closer to those of conventional gasoline and are often considered ‘advanced biofuels’ because of this superior performance. However, the bulk synthesis of butanol from bio-sustainable feedstocks remains a challenge. Our approach to tackling this problem is to upgrade readily available bioethanol to butanol isomers using homogeneous complexes via the Guerbet reaction, a versatile C-C bond forming reaction with alcoholic substrates. This talk will highlight some of our recent results in selectivity control and using alternative feedstocks and co-catalysts for Guerbet processes.
Biography
Richard is a research associate at the Cardiff Catalysis Institute and manager of the EPSRC Prosperity Partnership on Sustainable Catalysis for Clean Growth; a collaborative project between Cardiff University, the University of Manchester, Johnson Matthey and bp. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Newcastle where he studied molecular metal oxide surface functionalisation under the supervision of Dr. John Errington. Ater a move to the University of Bristol he developed his research interests in ligand design, organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis while working in Prof. Paul Pringle’s group and later for Prof. Duncan Wass. In 2018 the Wass group relocated to Cardiff University where Richard currently investigates the upgrading of alcohols to advanced biofuels.