Advanced Catalysts and Integrated Strategies for the Selective Electrooxidation and Valorisation of Biomass/Biofuels

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomass Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2026 | Viewed by 966

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Western Australian School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, Kalgoorlie, WA 6430, Australia
Interests: chemical engineering and technology; catalysis engineering; mineral processing; hydrometallurgical engineering; underground mine support
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School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK
Interests: biomass pyrolysis, gasification; waste plastics thermal chemical conversion; CO2 capture and conversion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Science, The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University), Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Interests: biomass valorisation; plastic upcycling; photothermal catalysis; extra-large pore zeolites synthesis

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Guest Editor
Automotive Fuel Cells Electrocatalysis, School of Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100190, China
Interests: precious metal catalyst; automotive fuel cells electrocatalysis; molecular dynamics; density functional theory

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The selective electrooxidation and valorisation of biomass and biofuels represent key strategies for developing sustainable chemical processes and advancing a circular bioeconomy. We are pleased to announce the Special Issue of Catalysts, titled “Advanced Catalysts and Integrated Strategies for the Selective Electrooxidation and Valorisation of Biomass/Biofuels,” which aims to highlight recent advances in catalyst design, reaction engineering, and integrated approaches that improve efficiency, selectivity, and scalability. We welcome original research and review articles on topics including novel heterogeneous, homogeneous, and hybrid catalysts, selective electrooxidation, electrocatalytic and thermocatalytic processes, mechanistic insights, computational modeling, process intensification, sustainability assessments, and in situ characterization techniques. Contributions that combine experimental, theoretical, and interdisciplinary approaches are highly encouraged. We invite colleagues and researchers working in catalysis, electrocatalysis, biomass valorisation, and related fields to submit their work and share innovative strategies that advance both fundamental understanding and practical applications.

Suggested research themes for submission include:

  • Design and synthesis of novel heterogeneous, homogeneous, and hybrid catalysts;
  • Selective electrooxidation of biomass-derived molecules;
  • Mechanistic studies and reaction pathway analysis;
  • Integrated catalytic strategies and process intensification;
  • Computational modeling and simulation of catalytic systems;
  • In situ and operando characterization techniques;
  • Sustainability assessments and techno-economic analysis;
  • Coupled electrocatalytic and thermocatalytic systems.

Dr. Lisha Dong
Dr. Chunfei Wu
Dr. Haimei Xu
Dr. Chengyuan Dong
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • biomass valorisation
  • biofuels conversion
  • electrooxidation
  • selective catalysis
  • heterogeneous catalysts
  • electrocatalytic processes
  • integrated reaction strategies
  • sustainable chemical production
  • mechanistic insights
  • process intensification
  • computational catalysis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 2716 KB  
Article
Low-Temperature Oxidative Dehydrogenation of n-Butene over Oleate-Mediated ZnFe2O4 Catalysts
by Benqun Yang, Rui Yang, Lisha Dong, Haimei Xu, Shiming Qiu, Huimin Yang, Zhifeng Li and Guofang Zuo
Catalysts 2026, 16(3), 250; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal16030250 - 7 Mar 2026
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Abstract
Traditional oxidative dehydrogenation of n-butene has typically required relatively high operating temperatures (400–500 °C), which has driven increasing interest in the development of catalysts capable of delivering high activity at lower temperatures. In this study, zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4-ST) was [...] Read more.
Traditional oxidative dehydrogenation of n-butene has typically required relatively high operating temperatures (400–500 °C), which has driven increasing interest in the development of catalysts capable of delivering high activity at lower temperatures. In this study, zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4-ST) was successfully synthesized via hydrothermal hydrolysis of Zn–Fe oleate and demonstrated remarkable catalytic performance for the oxidative dehydrogenation of n-butene under mild conditions. At 300 °C, ZnFe2O4-ST achieved a conversion of 72.9% with 92.1% selectivity toward 1,3-butadiene, a result that, to the best of our knowledge, ranks among the best reported in the literature. By contrast, ZnFe2O4 prepared by conventional coprecipitation (17.2% conversion with 91.3% selectivity) and sol-gel (10.1% conversion with 86.4% selectivity) methods showed much lower activities, highlighting the critical influence of synthesis strategy on catalytic performance. To better understand the origin of these differences, a detailed structural and physicochemical characterization was undertaken using X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption–desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), H2-temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR), temperature-programmed re-oxidation (TPRO), and NH3-temperature-programmed desorption (NH3-TPD). These analyses revealed that the as-synthesized ZnFe2O4-ST possessed a significantly smaller average particle size, a larger specific surface area, and superior reducibility compared with the other samples. These properties are believed to be the key factors underpinning its outstanding catalytic behavior and provide important insights into the design of efficient low-temperature catalysts for selective oxidative dehydrogenation. Full article
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