The conversion of waste substrates into value added chemical products is a promising pathway to implement principles of circular economy in chemical industry and replace fossil feedstocks. To overcome the chemical complexity and heterogenous nature of waste feedstocks coupled processes are ideally suited. Implementing electrochemical steps enhances sustainability and opens novel reaction pathways.

Abstract

There is a strong initiative in chemical industry to replace fossil resources by alternative feedstocks and implement more sustainable production routes for chemicals. Waste feedstocks are especially appealing, considering the principles of circular economy. They exhibit, however, great structural complexity, and it is challenging to convert them into defined chemical products. To still enable the conversion of waste feedstocks into value added chemicals, coupled catalytic processes are a viable solution. A first reaction step transforms the waste substrate into more defined and soluble intermediates which are subsequently converted into value added chemicals, in a second reaction step. Electrochemical reactions are of great interest for such processes, especially in the context of sustainability, as they can be powered by electricity from renewable sources and enable unique chemical transformations. In this review different strategies for converting waste substrates into value added chemicals are addressed by using process couplings including electrochemical reactions. Such coupled processes are of great interest to enable the transformation of chemical industry towards sustainable processes following the principles of circular economy.