New Way to Make Rubber

 


1,3-butadiene is a feedstock that is used for synthetic rubber. Chemists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have created a sustainable method to electrosynthesize the material, which is made from acetylene. 

A common practice in green technologies is called electrification. It uses renewable electricity to convert feedstocks like water and carbon dioxide into more valuable chemicals and fuels.

This goal requires clear target molecules and synthesis options. One target is 1,3 butadiene. Today it is a minor by-product similar to  ethylene from the cracking of napthaorethane. 18 million tons of this feedstock is made each year.

A team from around the world published in the journal Nature Catalyst. The catalyst produced 1,3 butadiene at -0.85V versus the Standard Hydrogen Electrode (SHE) and faradaic efficiency of 93%. The partial current density of 1,3 butadiene is an indicator of catalytic activity. It was 20 times higher than reported in past studies.

Associate Professor Yeo Boon Siang is from the Department of Chemistry at NUS. He summarizes, "This work is the fruit of an intense collaboration between experimentalists and theoreticians, together with an industrial partner, to discover how important chemicals, such as 1,3-butadiene could be more sustainably produced."

The goal of the team is to develop catalysts than can couple into longer hydrocarbons, and could be used as aviation fuel. 

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