Commercial Potential of Olefin Metathesis of Renewable Feedstocks

Abstract

Renewable feedstocks are gaining traction in supplementing and replacing traditional petrochemical products. Seed oils are attractive renewable feedstocks because they are available on a large scale at low prices and contain multiple functional groups for further modifications. To help understand the effect of ethylene on catalyst efficiency, the cross metathesis (CM) of methyl oleate (MO) was examined using alpha olefins as ethylene surrogates. The genesis of the alkenolysis idea was to increase the starting alpha olefin concentration in the metathesis reaction. Despite the fact that terpenes are a ready and abundant source of renewable oleochemical feedstocks, they have received considerably less attention than natural oils as feedstocks in metathesis reactions. Owing to the polyunsaturated nature of natural rubber, any metathesis reactions involving it will be accompanied by intramolecular reactions resulting in chain scission and molecular weight reduction. Other renewable feedstock olefins are discussed in this chapter.