Title
Sustainable synthesis of amino acids by catalytic fixation of molecular dinitrogen and carbon dioxide
Date Issued
01 January 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Rivas M.
Turon P.
Alemán C.
Puiggalí J.
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Publisher(s)
Royal Society of Chemistry
Abstract
The industrial process of nitrogen fixation is complex and results in a huge economic and environmental impact. It requires a catalyst and high temperature and pressure to induce the rupture of the strong N-N bond and subsequent hydrogenation. On the other hand, carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere has become a priority objective due to the high amount of global carbon dioxide emissions (i.e. 36 200 million tons in 2015). In this work, we fix nitrogen from N2 and carbon from CO2 and CH4 to obtain both glycine and alanine (d/l racemic mixture), the two simplest amino acids. The synthesis, catalyzed by polarized hydroxyapatite under UV light irradiation and conducted in an inert reaction chamber, starts from a simple gas mixture containing N2, CO2, CH4 and H2O and uses mild reaction conditions. At atmospheric pressure and 95 °C, the glycine and alanine molar yields with respect to CH4 or CO2 are about 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively, but they grow to 3.4% and 2.4%, when the pressure increases to 6 bar and the temperature is maintained at 95 °C. Besides, the minimum temperature required for the successful production of detectable amounts of amino acids is 75 °C. Accordingly, an artificial photosynthetic process has been developed by using an electrophotocatalyst based on hydroxyapatite thermally and electrically stimulated and coated with zirconyl chloride and a phosphonate. The synthesis of amino acids by direct fixation of nitrogen and carbon from gas mixtures opens new avenues regarding the nitrogen fixation for industrial purposes and the recycling of carbon dioxide.
Start page
685
End page
693
Volume
20
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería química Ciencia de los polímeros
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85041697109
Source
Green Chemistry
ISSN of the container
14639262
Sponsor(s)
The authors acknowledge MINECO-FEDER (MAT2015-69367-R and MAT2015-69547-R) for financial support. The support for the research of C. A. was received through the prize “ICREA Academia” for excellence in research funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya. This work is integrated within a wider research project supported by B. Braun Surgical S.A., UPC, ICS and ICFO. Special thanks to Dr J. F. Julián, Dr J. Navinés, Mrs Anna M. Rodríguez, Mrs Cristina Manjón, Dr E. Rodríguez and Mr Paul Wakely for their valuable contributions and to Mr A. Rodríguez for his contribution to the design of Fig. 1 and 4 and to Mr A. Lacasa for the design of the graphical abstract.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus