Ethylene from corn may be new sustainable feedstock

03 Aug '13

2 min read

Ethanol processed from corn and other plants could serve as the new sustainable raw material for a huge variety of products, including textiles, which are currently made from petrochemical products.

Ethanol which is further processed into ethylene is mostly extracted from petroleum, and scientists have been seeking for alternatives to petroleum for making ethylene which is used in a variety of products, according to an article in the latest issue of the ACS journal, ‘Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research’.

Minhua Zhang and Yingzhe Yu, from the Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of the Ministry of Education, Tianjin University Research and Development Center for Petrochemical Technology, have reviewed progress in the field and found a particular device which has the potential to make a highly pure ethylene product from ethanol with high efficiency and low cost.

The device, called a fluidized bed reactor, works by suspending the chemicals needed to make ethylene inside the walls of a chamber.

The ethylene which is produced in the chamber will exit through a pipe while the rest of the material remains to continue production.

Yingzhe Yu and his team explained that the progress towards the commercial use of the device would help in the manufacturing of various products which require ethylene as feedstock.

Ethylene is typically used as an intermediary for many organic syntheses and is commonly used in producing polyester fibers for textile and clothing industry.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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