title: From Sugars to Wheels: The Conversion of Ethanol to 1,3-Butadiene over Metal-Promoted Magnesia-Silicate Catalysts.
abstract: 1,3-Butadiene (1,3-BD) is a high-value chemical intermediate used mainly as a monomer for the production of synthetic rubbers. The ability to source 1,3-BD from biomass is of considerable current interest because it offers the potential to reduce the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) impact associated with 1,3-BD production from petroleum-derived naphtha. Herein, we report the development and investigation of a new catalyst and process for the one-step conversion of ethanol to 1,3-BD. The catalyst is prepared by the incipient impregnation of magnesium oxide onto a silica support followed by the deposition of Au nanoparticles by deposition-precipitation. The resulting Au/MgO-SiO2 catalyst exhibits a high activity and selectivity to 1,3-BD and low selectivities to diethyl ether, ethylene, and butenes. Detailed characterization of the catalyst shows that the desirable activity and selectivity of Au/MgO-SiO2 are a consequence of a critical balance between the acidic-basic sites associated with a magnesium silicate hydrate phase and the redox properties of the Au nanoparticles. A process for the conversion of ethanol to 1,3-BD, which uses our catalyst, is proposed and analyzed to determine the life-cycle GHG impact of the production of this product from biomass-derived ethanol. We show that 1,3-BD produced by our process can reduce GHG emissions by as much as 155 % relative to the conventional petroleum-based production of 1,3-BD.
authors.affiliation: Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, 2151 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.|Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Sankaranarayanapillai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shylesh
authors.affiliation: Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, 2151 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.|BASF Corporation, 33 Wood Avenue South, Iselin, NJ, 08830, USA.
authors.forename: Amit A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Gokhale
authors.affiliation: Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, 2151 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.|Joint BioEnergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Berkeley, CA, 94608, USA.|Energy Technologies Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Corinne D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Scown
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Daeyoup
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, 2151 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. alexbell@berkeley.edu.|Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. alexbell@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Alexis T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D002070:Butadienes / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D000431:Ethanol / Q000737:chemistry*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008277:Magnesium Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D010578:Petroleum; D017640:Silicates / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D002070:Butadienes; D010578:Petroleum; D017640:Silicates; D008277:Magnesium Oxide; D000431:Ethanol; D006046:Gold; C031763:1,3-butadiene
keywords: alcohols; biomass; gold; magnesium; supported catalysts