Bristol has invented a novel low temperature process for the selective dehydration of ethanol to ethylene, thus paving the way to using sustainable biomass-derived ‘bioethanol’ in the manufacture of a range of next generation biofuels and commodity chemicals. The key is a novel transition metal-based catalyst which operates via a different mechanism to traditional acid catalysts and allows good conversion and selectivity at temperatures less than 150°C. The process may be used alone as a method to produce ethylene. But, perhaps more importantly, the lower operating temperature means that the catalyst may also be used in tandem with further catalysts to produce ethylene derivatives in a single reactor.
Patent applied for; publication number WO2009081204; priority date 20/12/2007
For further details please contact: rosalind.darby@bristol.ac.uk.