In Washington, the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory said it is teaming up with Bridgestone to scale up a chemical process that converts ethanol into butadiene—synthetic rubber’s most important ingredient.
At the center of the collaboration sits a catalyst developed by PNNL researchers that cuts out the need for heat and reduces the carbon dioxide emissions of current butadiene production, PNNL said.
While other ethanol-to-butadiene catalysts exist, “this catalyst demonstrates high selectivity at high conversion, which means it generates lots of butadiene without losing its performance with time,” said Vanessa Dagle, a chief scientist at PNNL and manager of the project.
“Projects like this will help advance the science and technologies necessary to make the industry more sustainable, placing our engineers and scientists at the forefront of potentially revolutionizing how tire makers obtain butadiene in a more nature-positive way,” said Mark Smale, Bridgestone Executive Director of Core Polymer Science. “We are very excited about this project and the innovative new process, and very appreciative of PNNL’s partnership.”
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Tags: butadiene, DOE, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Washington
Category: Research
