{"id":111260,"date":"2022-06-22T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T05:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=111260"},"modified":"2022-06-17T11:49:17","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T09:49:17","slug":"photosynthesis-inspired-process-makes-commodity-chemicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/photosynthesis-inspired-process-makes-commodity-chemicals\/","title":{"rendered":"Photosynthesis-inspired process makes commodity chemicals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Ethylene is a precursor to 50-60% of all plastics worldwide<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Before ethylene can be converted into plastic, contaminants must be removed<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Removing or converting contaminants requires high temperatures and pressures, flammable hydrogen and expensive metals<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Chemists replaced these conditions with only water and visible light to create a new, environmentally friendly process<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"920\" height=\"530\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-2022-06-16-at-09.15.48.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-111263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-2022-06-16-at-09.15.48.png 920w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-2022-06-16-at-09.15.48-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-2022-06-16-at-09.15.48-150x86.png 150w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-2022-06-16-at-09.15.48-768x442.png 768w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-2022-06-16-at-09.15.48-400x230.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px\" \/><figcaption>Catalysis driven by light and water produces polymer-grade ethylene. <strong>\u00a9<\/strong> Northwestern University<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Northwestern University chemists have taken inspiration from plants to revolutionize the way an important industrial chemical is made. In a first for the field, the Northwestern team used light and water to convert acetylene into ethylene, a widely used, highly valuable chemical that is a key ingredient in plastics.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While this conversion typically requires high temperatures and pressures, flammable hydrogen and expensive metals to drive the reaction, Northwestern\u2019s photosynthesis-like process is much less expensive and less energy intensive. Not only is the new process environmentally friendly, it also works incredibly well \u2014 successfully converting nearly 100% of acetylene into ethylene.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIn industry, this method requires energy-intensive processes that need high temperatures, an external feed of flammable hydrogen gas and materials containing noble metals, which are expensive and difficult to obtain,\u201d said Northwestern\u2019s <strong>Francesca Arcudi<\/strong>, co-first author of the study. \u201cOur new strategy solves all these issues at once. It operates using light and water in place of high temperatures and hydrogen. And instead of expensive metals, we use naturally abundant, inexpensive materials.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The resulting strategy worked shockingly well. Whereas the current industrial process results in 90% selectivity for ethylene, the Northwestern approach has 99% selectivity for ethylene.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cThis is important because it\u2019s a commodity chemical with high economic value,\u201d said Northwestern\u2019s <strong>Luka \u00d0or\u0111evi\u0107<\/strong>, co-first author of the study. \u201cThe more you can produce without waste, the better.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41557-022-00966-5\">study was published <\/a>on June 9th in the journal <em>Nature Chemistry<\/em>. It is the first report of researchers using light to convert acetylene to ethylene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This paper is a result of a collaboration between&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/chemistry.northwestern.edu\/people\/core-faculty\/profiles\/emily-weiss.html\" target=\"_blank\">Emily Weiss<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mccormick.northwestern.edu\/research-faculty\/directory\/profiles\/stupp-samuel.html\" target=\"_blank\">Samuel I. Stupp<\/a>&nbsp;and their joint effort as part of the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/cbes.northwestern.edu\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Bio-Inspired Energy Science<\/a>&nbsp;(CBES) at Northwestern. Weiss,&nbsp;a professor of chemistry in Northwestern\u2019s&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/weinberg.northwestern.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences<\/a>, is the paper\u2019s corresponding author. Arcudi is a postdoctoral researcher in Weiss\u2019 laboratory. \u00d0or\u0111evi\u0107 is a postdoctoral fellow in Stupp\u2019s laboratory. Stupp is the Board of Trustees Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern, with appointments in Weinberg College, the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mccormick.northwestern.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">McCormick School of Engineering<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.feinberg.northwestern.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>&#8220;At CBES we strive to address fundamental challenges by taking inspiration from nature,\u201d said <strong>Stupp<\/strong>, the director of CBES.\u00a0\u201cVitamin B12, one of a few naturally occurring organometallic co-factors, was used in this paper as a source of inspiration to design our catalyst.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>As the precursor to 50-60% of all the world\u2019s plastics, ethylene is a hot commodity. In order to meet the ever-increasing demand for the valuable chemical, industry produces more than 200 million tons of ethylene per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To generate ethylene, chemists use steam cracking, an industrial method that employs hot steam to break down ethane into smaller molecules, which are then distilled into ethylene. But the resulting chemical contains a small amount of acetylene, a contaminant that deactivates catalysts to prevent ethylene from properly converting into plastic. Before the ethylene can be turned into plastic, the acetylene must be removed or converted into ethylene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cThe removal or conversion of acetylene in order to get pure ethylene is a process that\u2019s well known in the industry,\u201d <strong>Weiss<\/strong> said. \u201cThe process has many problems, which is why the scientific community has been trying to propose an alternative to this process. Producing polymer-grade ethylene from carbon dioxide feedstock is a desirable alternative, but this route is not developed enough yet. Our strategy is a first and major step toward producing this important commodity chemical with the lowest energy footprint possible.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In particular, an incredible amount of energy is needed to reach the high temperatures and pressures required for a successful chemical reaction. It also requires expensive catalysts made from noble metals, such as palladium. And because the process relies on protons from hydrogen, which is produced from fossil fuels, it generates vast amounts of carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Northwestern\u2019s strategy bypasses all these issues. To convert acetylene to ethylene, Northwestern\u2019s chemists replaced the palladium catalyst with cobalt, a less expensive, more abundant alternative. They also used room temperature and ambient pressure. In place of heat, they used visible light. And, finally, they replaced hydrogen with plain water as a source for protons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>The study, \u201cSelective visible-light photocatalysis of acetylene to ethylene using a cobalt molecular catalyst and water as a proton source,\u201d was supported by the\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/cbes.northwestern.edu\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Bio-Inspired Energy Science<\/a>, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ethylene is a precursor to 50-60% of all plastics worldwide Before ethylene can be converted into plastic, contaminants must be removed Removing or converting contaminants requires high temperatures and pressures, flammable hydrogen and expensive metals Chemists replaced these conditions with only water and visible light to create a new, environmentally friendly process Northwestern University chemists [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"New strategy is less expensive, less energy intensive than current industrial processes","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5627,15806,10408,12961],"supplier":[20502,6678,3930,11236,20503],"class_list":["post-111260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-energy","tag-ethylene","tag-greenchemistry","tag-photocatalysis","supplier-center-for-bio-inspired-energy-science-cbes","supplier-nature-chemistry","supplier-northwestern-university","supplier-u-s-department-of-energy","supplier-weinberg-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111260"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=111260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}