Argonne researchers develop low-cost catalyst based on AI to speed up biomass transformation

In Illinois, next time you drive past farms or prairies and ponds on a rural road, look around. They are a rich source of biomass. That includes corn, soybeans, sugar cane, switchgrass, algae and other plant matter. These carbon-rich materials can be converted to liquid fuels and chemicals with many possible applications. There is enough biomass in the United States, for example, to produce renewable jet fuel for all air travel. 

A major stumbling block at present is lack of effective, low-cost catalysts needed to transform biomass into biofuel or other useful products. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory report developing an artificial intelligence-based model to speed up the process for engineering a low-cost catalyst based on molybdenum carbide.