US team claims bio-PET advance
8 May 2012
London - Chemical engineers in the US has discovered a new way to make monomer feedstock for PET bottles from biomass rather than petroleum. The researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Delaware, claim to have developed an efficient way to produce p-xylene - a precursor to terephthalic acid.
The research, which was published in a journal of the American Chemical Society, centres around the use of a zeolite catalyst to transform glucose into p-xylene. The process comprises a three-step reaction, which is carried out within a high-temperature biomass reactor.
The process uses a catalyst specifically designed to promote the p-xylene reaction over other less desirable reactions. This represents a major breakthrough since other methods of producing renewable p-xylene are either expensive or inefficient due to low yields, according to the research team.
“We discovered that the performance of the biomass reaction was strongly affected by the nanostructure of the catalyst, which we were able to optimize and achieve a 75% yield,” said Wei Fan, assistant professor of chemical engineering at UMass Amherst.
The research team believes further modifying the process could potentially boost the yield and make it even more economically attractive.
“Our discovery shows remarkable potential,” claimed Dion Vlachos, director of the University of Delaware’s Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI).
“This technology could significantly reduce production costs for manufacturers of plastics from renewable sources.”
This discovery is a part of a larger effort by UD’s Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation to create breakthrough technologies for the production of biofuels and chemicals from plant biomass.
The center is funded by the US Department of Energy as part of the Energy Frontiers Research Center program, which combines more than 20 faculty with complimentary research skills to collaborate on solving the world’s most pressing energy challenges.
“This is the new frontier in our center and an exciting advancement for biomass transformation,” concluded Vlachos.
