A group of scientists from the University of Wales have taken a step towards a more sustainable way of making plastic, which can be found in a range of items from toothbrushes and guitar strings to medical implants and construction materials.
A new method of creating cyclohexanone oxime, a pre-cursor to the plastic material nylon 6, has been reported in a new paper in the journal Science.
The global production of nylon 6 is expected to reach 9 million metric tons a year by the year 2024, prompting scientists to search for more sustainable ways of producing cyclohexanone oxime.
The process for making cyclohexanone oxime involves hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, and a catalyst called titanosilicate-1.
The H 2 O 2 used in this chemical process is produced elsewhere and needs to be shipped in before it can be used in the chemical reaction.
This is a costly and carbon-intensive process that also requires the shipping of highly concentrated H 2 O 2 to the end-user prior to dilution, which effectively wastes the large amounts of energy used during concentration.
The stabilizing agents used to increase the shelf-life of H 2 O 2 can limit the reactor lifetime and often need to be removed before arriving at a final product, leading to further economic and environmental costs.
To address this issue, the team has devised a method where H 2 O 2 is synthesised in-situ from dilute streams of hydrogen and oxygen, using a catalyst consisting of gold-palladium (AuPd) nanoparticles that are either directly loaded on to the TS-1 or on
The large surface area-to-volume ratio of nanoparticles makes them very useful catalysts compared to bulk materials.
The method was performed in conditions previously thought to be detrimental to H 2 O 2 production and can produce yields of cyclohexanone oxime comparable to those seen in current commercial processes, while avoiding the major drawbacks associated with commercial H 2 O 2.
The team was able to demonstrate the flexibility of this approach by producing a range of other industrially important chemicals, which themselves have wide ranging applications.
The lead author of the study said that the work represents a positive first step towards more sustainable chemical transformations.
The generation of H 2 O 2 through this new approach could be used in a wide-range of other industrial applications that are currently dependent on the use of TS-1 and H 2 O 2, potentially representing a sea change in industrial oxidation chemistry.
Significant improvements on current state-of-the-art technologies can be made, leading to significant cost savings and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from a major industrial process.
More information: Richard J. Lewis et al, Highly efficient catalytic production of oximes from ketones using in situ–generated H2O2, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abl4822 Journal information: Science Citation: Scientists discover greener route to widely used industrial material (2022, May 5) retrieved 5 May 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-scientists-greener-route-widely-industrial.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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