22 Jan 2018
Scientists have developed a new process to manufacture ‘green’ plastic that could significantly reduce costs and provide a cleaner alternative to current materials.
Using fructose and gamma-Valerolactone (GVL) – a plant-derived solvent – researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison,US, have found a way to produce furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) that is both cost-effective and high-yielding, when a large amount of product is produced. FDCA is a precursor to the renewable plastic polyethylene furanoate (PEF).
An FDCA crystal produced from biomass. Image: UW-Madison image by Ali Hussain Motagamwala and James Runde
‘Until now, FDCA has had a very low solubility in practically any solvent you make it in,’ says co-author Ali Hussain Motagamwala.
‘You have to use a lot of solvent to get a small amount of FDCA, and you end up with high separation costs and undesirable waste products.’
Currently, the plastics market relies heavily on the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is derived from petroleum, to meet increasing demand for plastic products.
The team, alongside Motagamwala, have been able to convert fructose to FDCA in a two-step process using a solvent system of one-part GVL and one-part water.
According to Motagamwala, using GVL as a solvent is the key to reducing the high expenses that FDCA production incurs. ‘Sugars and FDCA are both highly soluble in [GVL], you get high yields, and you can easily separate and recycle the solvent,’ he says.
The team’s study also includes an extensive techno-economic analysis on the ‘green’ process, suggesting that FDCA could be produced for around £1,000 a tonne – reduced further if the reaction time and cost of feedstock could be lowered through further research.
A more cost-effective alternative to PET could have a significant impact on the plastics market, which produces an estimated 1.5m tonnes a year.
Major companies – from Coca-Cola to Procter & Gamble – are committing to 100% use of PEF in their plastic products, providing a huge market need for its precursor FDCA.
‘We think this is the streamlined and inexpensive approach to making FDCA that many people in the plastics industry has been waiting for,’ says James Dumesic, team-leader and Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the university.
‘Our hope is that this research opens the door even further to cost-competitive renewable plastics.’
Process development is an essential area of research that underpins advances in a huge range of industries. There is still time to register for the 35th SCI Process Development Symposium, organised by SCI’s Fine Chemicals group and held on 11-13 April 2018 at Churchill College, Cambridge, UK.
Science Advances, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aap9722
By Georgina Hines
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