1. Renewable acrylonitrile production
- Author
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Ryan T. Gill, Eric C. D. Tan, Todd R. Eaton, Gregg T. Beckham, Watson Michael John, Robin M. Cywar, Violeta Sànchez i Nogué, Derek R. Vardon, Vassili Vorotnikov, Adam D. Bratis, O. Stanley Fruchey, Michelle Gilhespy, Mary J. Biddy, Zinovia Skoufa, Lorenz P. Manker, Rongming Liu, Eric M. Karp, William E. Michener, and David G. Brandner
- Subjects
Multidisciplinary ,Materials science ,Thermal runaway ,010405 organic chemistry ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,Endothermic process ,0104 chemical sciences ,Catalysis ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Ammonia ,chemistry ,Chemical engineering ,Titanium dioxide ,Ethyl acrylate ,Acrylonitrile ,Ammoxidation - Abstract
A sweet source to make acrylonitrile Much of the attention directed toward displacing petroleum feedstocks with biomass has focused on fuels. However, there are also numerous opportunities in commodity chemical production. One such candidate is acrylonitrile, a precursor to a wide variety of plastics and fibers that is currently derived from propylene. Karp et al. efficiently manufactured this compound from an ester (ethyl 3-hydroxypropanoate) that can be sourced renewably from sugars. The process relies on inexpensive titania as a catalyst and avoids the side production of cyanide that accompanies propylene oxidation. Science , this issue p. 1307
- Published
- 2017