Speaker
Description
The transition from the exploitation of fossil fuels to the efficient use of sustainable energies is the main goal of the researchers of the 21st century. Hydrogen has emerged as a clean fuel alternative to fossil energies, due to its absence of carbon dioxide emission when used. [1]
However, the production of green hydrogen has been very challenging and is today a focus of the scientific community. Photocatalytic processes have been promising, giving the possibility to harness sunlight energy to produce hydrogen from water splitting. [2]
This project aims to couple this photocatalytic production of H2 to the photodegradation of distillery wastes, which can be considered as an inexpensive, locally sourced, and available resource. Giving the possibility to distilleries to produce energy from their wastes could help them achieve energy autonomy and reduce their environmental impact.
The hydrogen production is carried out by a highly active cadmium sulfide quantum dots (CdS QDs) photocatalyst, using the alcoholic wastes as sacrificial agents. Parameters of the CdS QDs synthesis have been optimized to improve their reactivity for methanol degradation (model alcohol) and real industry wastes.
