The 40 Hottest Technologies of 2018 – as voting gets underway, the nominees in depth
Biomass to Acrylonitrile
What does it do, how does it work, who is it aimed at?
This technology offers a route for conversion of biomass derived 2nd generation C5 and C6 sugars to acrylonitrile. The conversion process is a multi-step thermocatalytic process, that enables production of high purity acrylonitrile which can be used as a direct drop-in replacement. Technology is aimed for current users of acrylonitrile monomer, that include – carbon fiber producers, acrylic fibers, car tires, ABS plastics etc.
Competitively, what gives this technology an edge?
Acrylonitrile production is highly dependent on prices of propylene, a byproduct of ethylene production during naphtha cracking. With abundant shale gas in US, majority of ethylene production has shifted to ethane crackers. This has lead to uncertainty in propylene market.
Alternative renewable sources will help the industry in closing supply demand gap. SR technology can utilize both C5 and C6 sugars for conversion, technology has been verified using commercial C5 and C6 sugars including impurities for process stability and product quality. The current TEA estimate reflect a competitive market price as compared to petroleum acrylonitrile and a reduction of 40% green house gases. Furthermore, acrylonitrile is a hazardous chemical and poses transportation risks. Renewable acrylonitrile technology is designed to operate at smaller scale and can be deployed near user facility, reducing transportation and storage risks. This DOE funded technology is currently at pilot scale operations.
What stage of development is this technology at right now?
The technology is currently operated at pilot scale.
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