PhD researcher wins Royal Society of Chemistry poster prize

Researcher Mariia Konstantinova recently attended the UK Catalysis Conference and her poster on "Catalytic hydrothermal conversion of NaHCO3 and glucose to formate" won the Royal Society Chemistry Chem Comm Poster Prize 2022.

Mariia Konstantinova

The poster showcases Mariia’s studies on the impact of reaction conditions, mechanistic studies into degradation products, as well as the effect of heterogeneous catalysts on the reaction products. Her findings show that in the presence of a catalyst, the yield of the desired product formic acid increases over two-fold, simultaneously promoting the conversion of both reagents to a single product.

Marria said:

“I am very happy and honoured to win the RSC Chem Comm Prize for my poster on catalytic hydrothermal conversion of bicarbonate and glucose to formate. The UK Catalysis Conference is attended by academics and industrial scientists from around the entire country and I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity for many of them to engage with my work through the poster. After so many years carrying out this research it is great to see it valued so highly at such a prestigious event.”

“My work focuses on the production of value-added products from waste using sub-critical water as a reaction medium. Carbon dioxide is an abundant and cheap feedstock for such application, but as a highly stable molecule it is difficult to overcome the energy barrier. In hydrothermal media, the unique properties of sub-critical water result in acceleration of reaction rates without the need for additional solvents or gaseous hydrogen. With the addition of a reductant, in my case glucose, this creates an environment where carbon dioxide can be reduced to value-added products such as methanol, formic acid, or methane.”

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