Chemical Value Chain Research Articles

The Role of Electrochemistry in Future Dynamic Bio‐Refineries: A Focus on (Non‐)Kolbe Electrolysis

AbstractThe vision of a circular economy with closed carbon dioxide cycles is inevitably connected to a change of raw materials. Non‐edible biomass is an attractive carbon source for chemical industry. Brought together with renewable energy, the electrocatalytic transformation of biomass‐based feedstocks enables to directly integrate renewable electrical energy into chemical value chains. Considering the major role of natural carboxylic acids, the well‐known Kolbe and non‐Kolbe electrolysis attract increasing interest as versatile tools to valorize renewable feedstocks providing access to both biofuels and bulk or fine chemicals. They allow via decarboxylation access either to the corresponding dimerization product or the terminal alkene. Here, the electrochemical valorization of biomass is discussed with special emphasis on the possible role of (non‐)Kolbe electrolysis in a future electrified biorefinery.

Circular chemistry to enable a circular economy.

By expanding the scope of sustainability to the entire lifecycle of chemical products, the concept of circular chemistry aims to replace today’s linear ‘take–make–dispose’ approach with circular processes. This will optimize resource efficiency across chemical value chains and enable a closed-loop, waste-free chemical industry.

Identification of Key Transport Phenomena in High-Temperature Reactors: Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics

High-temperature reactors are employed to produce key intermediates within the chemical value chain such as synthesis gas and hydrogen cyanide. The drawback of those reactors is their high energy c...

ChemInform Abstract: Selective Catalytic Synthesis Using the Combination of Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen: Catalytic Chess at the Interface of Energy and Chemistry

AbstractReview: [253 refs.

Selective Catalytic Synthesis Using the Combination of Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen: Catalytic Chess at the Interface of Energy and Chemistry.

The present Review highlights the challenges and opportunities when using the combination CO2 /H2 as a C1 synthon in catalytic reactions and processes. The transformations are classified according to the reduction level and the bond-forming processes, covering the value chain from high volume basic chemicals to complex molecules, including biologically active substances. Whereas some of these concepts can facilitate the transition of the energy system by harvesting renewable energy into chemical products, others provide options to reduce the environmental impact of chemical production already in today's petrochemical-based industry. Interdisciplinary fundamental research from chemists and chemical engineers can make important contributions to sustainable development at the interface of the energetic and chemical value chain. The present Review invites the reader to enjoy this exciting area of "catalytic chess" and maybe even to start playing some games in her or his laboratory.

Harnessing renewable energy with CO2 for the chemical value chain: challenges and opportunities for catalysis.

Today’s energy systems and material value chains rely on the fossil feedstocks oil, gas and coal as energy carriers and carbon resources. Their exploitation involves either direct incineration to generate power and heat, or stepwise and controlled functionalization to generate the products of the

Technological convergence in Indonesian firms: cases of biobased chemical product innovation

This paper attempts to explain how technological convergence has occurred in Indonesian chemical firms. Viewed from the sectoral innovation system, the enabling factors of biobased chemical products innovation are the availability of scientist and researcher at university and research collaboration in company. The ways forward to promote technological convergence in Indonesian biobased chemical firms are to enhance its internal and external R&D capacity by supporting chemical firms to interact with public R&D and university. To enable the biobased chemical sector to take the opportunities to grow through technological convergence, the Indonesian government policy should (i) provide strong support for research, development, and commercialisation of innovative biobased products, and incentives for pioneering the commercial production and (ii) facilitate the biobased chemical value chains to develop by supporting biobased chemical investment, the advocation of using biobased chemical products in society, and limiting of using petroleum-based chemical products in the market.

CO2 utilization: an enabling element to move to a resource- and energy-efficient chemical and fuel production.

CO(2) conversion will be at the core of the future of low-carbon chemical and energy industry. This review gives a glimpse into the possibilities in this field by discussing (i) CO(2) circular economy and its impact on the chemical and energy value chain, (ii) the role of CO(2) in a future scenario of chemical industry, (iii) new routes for CO(2) utilization, including emerging biotechnology routes, (iv) the technology roadmap for CO(2) chemical utilization, (v) the introduction of renewable energy in the chemical production chain through CO(2) utilization, and (vi) CO(2) as a suitable C-source to move to a low-carbon chemical industry, discussing in particular syngas and light olefin production from CO(2). There are thus many stimulating possibilities offered by using CO(2) and this review shows this new perspective on CO(2) at the industrial, societal and scientific levels.

Formic acid: a future bridge between the power and chemical industries

Formic acid could bridge the power and chemical industries by sustainably integrating into the existing chemical value chain.

Trading Renewable Energy by using CO2: An Effective Option to Mitigate Climate Change and Increase the use of Renewable Energy Sources

AbstractThe utilization of carbon dioxide (CO2) to produce methanol (to be used as energy vector and raw material for chemical production) in remote areas, where cheap renewable H2 could be produced from renewable sources, is a technology with a potential impact estimated to be more than 7 Gt CO2 equivalents. By using a techno‐economic analysis, it is possible to evidence that methanol can be produced at competitive costs with respect to deriving energy from fossil fuels. This result, together with an analysis of the potential unexploited sources of renewable energy that are too far from users and grids, shows that the impact on the mitigation of climate change by this route is large, up to potentially 7 Gt CO2 equivalents, and at least comparable with that of carbon capture and storage (CCS). There are also advantages in terms of i) lower costs, ii) reduced impact on the environment, and iii) enhanced energy security. Further benefits are in terms of effective integration with the actual energy and chemical production value chains. The technology may be also used to store energy to solve the issue of generation intermittency present in most of the renewable energy sources. These aspects make this CO2 conversion path using renewable energy a potentially valuable approach to mitigate climate change and increase the use of renewable energy.

Catalysis for CO2 conversion: a key technology for rapid introduction of renewable energy in the value chain of chemical industries

Replacement of part of the fossil fuel consumption by renewable energy, in particular in the chemical industry, is a central strategy for resource and energy efficiency. This perspective will show that CO2 is the key molecule to proceed effectively in this direction. The routes, opportunities and barriers in increasing the share of renewable energy by using CO2 reaction and their impact on the chemical and energy value chains are discussed after introducing the general aspects of this topic evidencing the tight integration between the CO2 use and renewable energy insertion in the value chain of the process industry. The focus of this perspective article is on the catalytic aspects of the chemistries involved, with an analysis of the state-of-the-art, perspectives and targets to be developed. The reactions discussed are the production of short-chain olefins (ethylene, propylene) from CO2, and the conversion of carbon dioxide to syngas, formic acid, methanol and dimethyl ether, hydrocarbons via Fischer–Tropsch synthesis and methane. The relevance of availability, cost and environmental footprints of H2 production routes using renewable energies is addressed. The final part discusses the possible scenario for CO2 as an intermediary for the incorporation of renewable energy in the process industry, with a concise roadmap for catalysis needs and barriers to reach this goal.

Isomerizing Olefin Metathesis as a Strategy To Access Defined Distributions of Unsaturated Compounds from Fatty Acids

The dimeric palladium(I) complex [Pd(μ-Br)(t)Bu(3)P](2) was found to possess unique activity for the catalytic double-bond migration within unsaturated compounds. This isomerization catalyst is fully compatible with state-of-the-art olefin metathesis catalysts. In the presence of bifunctional catalyst systems consisting of [Pd(μ-Br)(t)Bu(3)P](2) and NHC-indylidene ruthenium complexes, unsaturated compounds are continuously converted into equilibrium mixtures of double-bond isomers, which concurrently undergo catalytic olefin metathesis. Using such highly active catalyst systems, the isomerizing olefin metathesis becomes an efficient way to access defined distributions of unsaturated compounds from olefinic substrates. Computational models were designed to predict the outcome of such reactions. The synthetic utility of isomerizing metatheses is demonstrated by various new applications. Thus, the isomerizing self-metathesis of oleic and other fatty acids and esters provides olefins along with unsaturated mono- and dicarboxylates in distributions with adjustable widths. The cross-metathesis of two olefins with different chain lengths leads to regular distributions with a mean chain length that depends on the chain length of both starting materials and their ratio. The cross-metathesis of oleic acid with ethylene serves to access olefin blends with mean chain lengths below 18 carbons, while its analogous reaction with hex-3-enedioic acid gives unsaturated dicarboxylic acids with adjustable mean chain lengths as major products. Overall, the concept of isomerizing metatheses promises to open up new synthetic opportunities for the incorporation of oleochemicals as renewable feedstocks into the chemical value chain.

Collection and Dissemination of Exposure Data Throughout the Chemical Value Chain: A Case Study from a Global Consumer Product Industry

ABSTRACT The human and environmental safety of chemicals in formulated consumer products has for decades been important for product manufacturers and ingredient suppliers. However, prior to the mid-1990s, the underlying product safety data were largely not publicly available. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chemical Right-to-Know Program and a related program of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development have since been the catalysts for the broad dissemination of standardized hazard datasets for thousands of high production volume (HPV) chemicals in commerce around the globe. The formulated consumer products industry took the additional step of developing and summarizing the science around exposure to their products, largely cleaning products and personal care products, in order to be able to characterize and communicate the safety of their products. Perhaps even more significant was the collection and circulation of information surrounding the habits and practices of product use, and ingredient concentrations in products. The objective of this article is to detail the methods used for collection of this information by the American Cleaning Institute (ACI), and the process by which hazard and exposure information may be used in screening-level risk assessments. These data and methods appear in a number of ACI's publications (http://www.aciscience.org).

Oxidative Methane Upgrading

The economically viable oxidative upgrading of methane presents one of the most difficult but rewarding challenges within catalysis research. Its potential to revolutionalise the chemical value chain, coupled with the associated supremely challenging scientific aspects, has ensured this topic's high popularity over the preceeding decades. Herein, we report a non-exhaustive account of the current developments within the field of oxidative methane upgrading and summarise the pertaining challenges that have yet to be solved.

Understanding Selective Oxidations

Functionalizing organic molecules is an important value-creating step throughout the entire chemical value-chain. Oxyfunctionalization of e.g. C-H or C=C bonds is one of the most important functionalization technologies used industrially. The major challenge in this field is the prevention of side reactions and/or the consecutive over-oxidation of the desired products. Despite its importance, a fundamental understanding of the intrinsic chemistry, and the subsequent design of a tailored engineering environment, is often missing. Industrial oxidation processes are indeed to a large extent based on empirical know-how. In this mini-review, we summarize some of our previous work to help to bridge this knowledge gap and elaborate on our ongoing research.

ACC BULKS UP

AS THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY recovers from a bruising recession, the American Chemistry Council plans to add small and medium-sized companies to its membership to make the trade group a broader and more effective government advocacy organization. According to ACC CEO Calvin M. Dooley, the membership drive is not an attempt to poach members from the Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates (SOCMA), a trade group that represents nearly 300 mostly small and medium-sized batch chemical companies. ACC represents 135 generally larger chemical firms. Instead, Dooley told reporters at the group’s year-end press conference, ACC wants to broaden its membership base with “a few hundred” smaller chemical companies. To attract them, ACC will waive their dues for three years. He also wants to add affiliate members “along the chemical-value chain,” including plastics compounders, film extruders, and trade groups such as SOCMA and the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association. Letter-writing efforts just aren’t eff...