US 12,442,090 B2
Electrochemical breaking of C—C bonds
Marcel Schreier, Pfeffingen (CH); Christine Lucky, Madison, WI (US); and Harshal Bakshi, Madison, WI (US)
Assigned to Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Madison, WI (US)
Filed by Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Madison, WI (US)
Filed on Oct. 4, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/959,744.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/251,763, filed on Oct. 4, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0106006 A1, Apr. 6, 2023
Int. Cl. C25B 3/03 (2021.01); C25B 3/23 (2021.01); C25B 9/15 (2021.01); C25B 11/02 (2021.01); C25B 11/065 (2021.01); C25B 11/089 (2021.01); C25B 15/08 (2006.01)
CPC C25B 3/03 (2021.01) [C25B 9/15 (2021.01); C25B 11/02 (2013.01); C25B 11/065 (2021.01); C25B 11/089 (2021.01); C25B 15/083 (2021.01)] 25 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for producing one or more desired chemical products from one or more chemical reactants comprising one or more sp3-hybridized C—C bonds, the method comprising:
(a) contacting a feedstock comprising an electrolyte and at least one reactant comprising at least one sp3-hybridized C—C bond to at least one pair of separated electrodes and applying a reactant adsorption electrical potential to the at least one electrode pair, whereby at least a portion of the at least one reactant is adsorbed to at least one electrode of the at least one electrode pair;
(b) applying a C—C bond breaking electrical potential to the at least one electrode pair, whereby the at least one sp3-hybridized C—C bond in the one or more adsorbed reactants is broken, thereby yielding one or more desired chemical products formed from the breaking of the at least one sp3-hybridized C—C bond; and
(c) applying a desorption electrical potential to the at least one electrode pair, whereby the one or more desired chemical products are released from the at least one electrode into the region between the at least one electrode pair;
wherein steps (a), (b), and (c) are conducted at a temperature of between about 0° C. and below 100.0° C.;
wherein the at least one reactant comprises a saturated hydrocarbon or a polymer whose backbone comprises carbon atoms; and
wherein the desired chemical products are C1-C10 linear, branched, or cyclic alkanes.