Valorisation of Bourbon Distillery Waste into Single‑source Hybrid Lithium‑ion Capacitors

Valorisation of Bourbon Distillery Waste into Single-source Hybrid Lithium-ion Capacitors

Authors:
Josiel Barrios Cossio, Juan Luis Gómez‑Urbano, Sandesh Darlami Magar, Ignacio Martin‑Gullon, Rodney Andrews, Andrea Balducci, and Marcelo I. Guzman

Journal: Materials Advances (Royal Society of Chemistry)
Publication status: Accepted and published online (Open Access, CC BY)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D6MA00297H

Graphical Abstract

Graphical abstract: Valorisation of bourbon distillery waste into single-source hybrid lithium-ion capacitors

Abstract

Bourbon, an iconic American whiskey, is primarily produced in Kentucky, which accounts for 95% of the world’s supply. Between 2000 and 2024, bourbon output in Kentucky increased sixfold, creating significant sustainability challenges—particularly the disposal of spent grains (stillage), a high‑volume by‑product generated at six to ten times the volume of bourbon produced.

This study presents a scalable strategy to upcycle bourbon stillage into high‑performance carbon materials for energy‑storage applications. The process involves tailored thermal and chemical treatments to produce both activated carbons and hard carbons. Activated carbon electrodes assembled into symmetric electric double‑layer capacitors (EDLCs) exhibit excellent electrochemical performance, with 96 ± 2% capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles and energy densities of 23.8–1.9 Wh kg−1 across power densities of 0.27–9.2 kW kg−1.

Single‑source hybrid lithium‑ion capacitors (LiCs), assembled using bourbon‑derived hard carbon and activated carbon, deliver superior performance, achieving energy densities of 135–48 Wh kg−1 at power densities of 0.215–22 kW kg−1. The LiCs also demonstrate strong cycling stability, losing only 17 ± 3% of capacity after 5,000 charge/discharge cycles at 3 A g−1, with an additional 14 ± 2% loss after 10,000 cycles.

Overall, this work highlights an eco‑friendly, circular approach to valorising distillery waste into advanced energy‑storage materials, with broad relevance to the spirits and ethanol production sectors.

Access the Paper

📄 This article is fully Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.

➡️ Read the full article

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interfacial Oxidative Oligomerization of Catechol

Image
Abstract: The heterogeneous reaction between thin films of catechol exposed to O 3 (g) creates hydroxyl radicals (HO • ) in situ, which in turn generate semiquinone radical intermediates in the path to form heavier polyhydroxylated biphenyl, terphenyl, and triphenylene products. Herein, the alteration of catechol aromatic surfaces and their chemical composition are studied during the heterogeneous oxidation of catechol films by O 3 (g) molar ratios ≥ 230 ppbv at variable relative humidity levels (0% ≤ RH ≤ 90%). Fourier transform infrared micro-spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and reverse-phase liquid chromatography with UV–visible and mass spectrometry detection provide new physical insights into understanding the surface reaction. A Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism is accounted to report reaction rates, half-lives, and reactive uptake coefficients for the system under variable relative humidity levels. The reactions reported...
Read more

Research on oxygen solubility in aqueous amine solvents with common additives used for CO2 chemical absorption

Image
Abstract: Oxidative degradation in amine based post-combustion carbon capture (PCCC) leads to solvent losses and decreased solvent performance. Oxygen (O 2 ) in the flue gas is dissolved into the aqueous solvent and can reactively degrade the amine component. Advanced aqueous amine solvents are designed to contain additional surfactant and anti-foam additives as well as two types of corrosion inhibitors. These additives contribute to improve the solvent performance while reducing foaming and corrosion of expensive equipment. This work examines the impact of these additives on oxygen solubility (or dissolved oxygen - DO) in various aqueous amines used in PCCC including ethanolamine (MEA), 1-amino-2-propanol (A2P), 2-amino-1-propanol (2A1P), 2-(methylamino)-ethanol (NMEA), 2-(ethylamine)-ethanol (2EAE), diethanolamine (DEA), methyl-diethanolamine (MDEA), dimethylethanolamine (DMEA), piperazine (PZ), 1,2-ethyldiamine (EDA), and 1,6 hexadiamine (HDA). The impact of carbon lo...
Read more

Crystal structure of zymonic acid and a redetermination of its precursor, pyruvic acid

Image
Abstract: The structure of zymonic acid (systematic name: 4-hy­droxy-2-methyl-5-oxo-2,5-di­hydro­furan-2-carb­oxy­lic acid), C 6 H 6 O 5 , which had previously eluded crystallographic determination, is presented here for the first time. It forms by intra­molecular condensation of parapyruvic acid, which is the product of aldol condensation of pyruvic acid. A redetermination of the crystal structure of pyruvic acid (systematic name: 2-oxo­propanoic acid), C 3 H 4 O 3 , at low temperature (90 K) and with increased precision, is also presented [for the previous structure, see: Harata et al. (1977). Acta Cryst. B 33 , 210–212]. In zymonic acid, the hy­droxy­lactone ring is close to planar (r.m.s. deviation = 0.0108 Å) and the dihedral angle between the ring and the plane formed by the bonds of the methyl and carb­oxy­lic acid carbon atoms to the ring is 88.68 (7)°. The torsion angle of the carb­oxy­lic acid group relative to the ring is 12.04 (16)°. The pyruvic acid mol­ecule...
Read more