Chemical Engineering July 2013 - 5

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2013 Kirkpatrick fi nalists
e are happy to announce the five innovative technologies that
have been selected as finalists for the 2013 Kirkpatrick Award
for Chemical Engineering Achievement. The winner will be announced
on September 25 at an Awards Banquet in Galveston, Tex. during
the ChemInnovations Conference and Expo (www.cpievent.com). Here
is a brief summary about the finalists:
Braskem - Sugarcane-based ethylene and polyethylene. Braskem
has developed a bio-based polyethylene (PE) that, at the end of its life, can
be reused, recycled, or incinerated to generate energy, with the main advantage
of having neutral carbon emissions. The process starts with sugarcane,
which is fermented to ethanol that is in turn converted to ethylene monomer
via a high-yield dehydration technology. The bio-ethylene is then polymerized
to produce various grades of bio-PE. The polymers can be transformed,
using existing equipment, into products for a wide-range of applications,
including blow molding, injection molding and films.
Eastman Chemical Co. - Perennial wood. Alternatives to wood as
a building material have been developed to overcome the disadvantages
of using real wood, such as shrinking, swelling, rotting and warping. But,
many say that there is no substitute for real wood. Eastman has commercialized
a wood that has been chemically modified through acetylation
to offer a real-wood alternative that is said to be three times more
stable than unmodified wood. The acetylation modification permanently
modifies the wood's cellular structure while leaving no toxic substances
in the wood.
W
Genomatica - Bio-based butanediol. Working with its partner DuPont
Tate & Lyle BioProducts, Genomatica has successfully commercialized the
production of bio-based butanediol (BDO). A total of 5-million lb of product
was produced in only five weeks. According to the company, this is the first
time BDO has been produced at commercial scale from renewable feedstocks.
The bio-based process is said to have a smaller environmental footprint
and is designed for better overall economics than conventional BDO
made from fossil fuels. Genomatica credits its fast scaleup success, in part,
to good chemical engineering discipline.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) - Propylene glycol
from renewable resources (PGRS). Up to 2.5-billion lb of petroleum are
consumed each year to meet worldwide demand for propylene glycol (PG).
Scientists at PNNL have developed novel catalysts for producing PG from
renewable sources. PGRS is said to be the world's first industrial-scale
process for producing U.S. Pharmacopeia-grade PG from renewable plant
sources, utilizing glycerol obtained from soybean processing. The process
is economically competitive with petroleum-based routes, and results in
up to 61% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, according to PNNL. The
technology was licensed to Archer Daniels Midland Co., which designed,
engineered and commissioned a new 100,000 metric ton per year production
facility.
Rive Technology - Molecular Highway catalyst
technology. Innovations in fluid catalytic cracking (FCC)
catalysts have largely focused on improvements to matrices,
binders and additives rather than on the zeolite component.
Rive has focused on the zeolite, and has developed
a mesoporous zeolite technology for improved mass transfer
into and within the zeolite crystals. This technology
makes traditional zeolite cracking catalysts more accessible
to large hydrocarbon molecules and thereby allows
increased production of gasoline and diesel fuels.
■
Dorothy Lozowski, Executive Editor
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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM JULY 2013 5
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Chemical Engineering July 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering July 2013
