The new catalyst can efficiently switch Culn to bio-based propylene which is a crucial ingredient for the fabrication of many plastics byproduct obtained from biodiesel production in highest yields seen to date. This new method holds the promise of a more sustainable path for producing propylene than used in conventional methods.
The Power of Biomass
The urgent challenge of the global carbon neutrality can be met by using renewable biomass efficiently. One such application is biodiesel production, which yields glycerol as the primary byproduct.
Rather than letting those rich deposits of garbage just rot away (they are a source of pollution), the researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University recycled that trash into something perhaps even more important: bio-based propylene. Propylene is a common petrochemical used to make many different plastics found in products as varied as car bumpers and food containers.
The researchers have discovered a new catalyst that is able to selectively break down an ether bond in the derivative of glycerol paving the way for a more sustainable future chemical industry.
A Catalyst for Change
And the special properties of the new catalyst played a role in this development. In contrast to the current fossil fuel-based routes for propylene production, this catalyst can selectively reduce allyl alcohol (a glycerol derived molecule) to propylene using hydrogen or electricity, which are renewable energy carriers.
The secret weapon of the catalyst is a unique molecule that researchers are calling a metalloligand, and it has been designed to tightly embrace two metals within the catalyst in such a way that they can reversibly bind each other. The excellent feature of electro-controlled reaction efficiency, high selectivity, and low production of byproducts at the same time also improved this property.
Thus, by rational catalyst design, bio-based propylene has been achieved at a very high efficiency with glycerol derived BPBP. It is a major breakthrough in using renewable resources for chemical production, thereby moving toward sustainability.
Conclusion
The discovery of this new type of catalyst is a major advance in efforts to find an environmentally friendly process that can convert natural gas and other methane sources into useful chemicals. This means that the researchers have shown that there is potential to make the chemical industry produce in a way that it become more circular and ultimately environmentally sustainable, by taking a waste product from biodiesel manufacturing and turn it into a good bio-based raw material for production of propylene. As the team further hones and scales this technology, the potential applications beyond recycling alone, will allow for a great deal of change in how chemicals are handled on a global scale.
