‘Our team combined a catalyst we recently discovered with new and exciting chemistry to find the first high-yield, low-cost method of manufacturing butadiene,’ says Dionisios Vlachos, Director of the University of Delaware’s Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation. Credit: University of Delaware/ Jeffrey Chase
Findings by scientists could transform the multi-billion-dollar plastics and rubber industries used for manufacturing tires, toys and myriad other products. These items are produced from butadiene, a molecule traditionally made from petroleum or natural gas. But those humanmade materials could get a lot greener soon, thanks to the ingenuity of a team of scientists from three U.S. research universities. The scientific team – from the University of Delaware, Minnesota and Massachusetts – has invented a process to make butadiene from renewable sources like trees, grasses and corn.
“Our team combined a catalyst we recently discovered with new and exciting chemistry to find the first high-yield, low-cost method of manufacturing butadiene,” says CCEI Director Dionisios Vlachos, the Allan and Myra Ferguson Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UD. “This research could transform the multi-billion-dollar plastics and rubber industries.” This 4-carbon molecule undergoes a chemical reaction to form polymers, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) is formed, which is used to make abrasive-resistant automobile tires. When blended to make nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), it becomes the key component in hoses, seals and the rubber gloves ubiquitous to medical settings.
In the world of plastics, butadiene is the chief chemical component in acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), a hard plastic that can be molded into rigid shapes. Tough ABS plastic is used to make video game consoles, automotive parts, sporting goods, medical devices and interlocking plastic toy bricks, among other products.
The novel chemistry included a 3-step process starting from biomass-derived sugars. Using technology developed within CCEI, the team converted sugars to a ring compound called furfural. In the second step, the team further processed furfural to another ring compound called tetrahydrofuran (THF). It was in the third step that the team found the breakthrough chemical manufacturing technology. Using a new catalyst called “phosphorus all-silica zeolite,” developed within the center, the team was able to convert THF to butadiene with high yield (greater than 95%).
The team called this new, selective reaction “dehydra-decyclization” to represent its capability for simultaneously removing water and opening ring compounds at once. “We discovered that phosphorus-based catalysts supported by silica and zeolites exhibit high selectivity for manufacturing chemicals like butadiene,” says Prof. Wei Fan of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “When comparing their capability for controlling certain industrial chemistry uses with that of other catalysts, the phosphorous materials appear truly unique and nicely complement the set of catalysts we have been developing at CCEI.”
The invention of renewable rubber is part of CCEI’s larger mission. Initiated in 2009, CCEI has focused on transformational catalytic technology to produce renewable chemicals and biofuels from natural biomass sources. “This newer technology significantly expands the slate of molecules we can make from lignocellulose,” says Prof. Paul Dauenhauer of the University of Minnesota, who is co-director of CCEI and a co-author of the study. http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2017/april/sustainable-rubber-plastics/
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