I-Corps: From Soybean Oil to Commodity Biobased Fatty Alcohols and Vinyl Monomers

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是在表面活性剂，洗涤剂，个人护理，润滑剂，粘合剂和涂料领域的应用。该项目的成功与减少商品产品的碳足迹直接相关，以补充或取代石化产品。大豆油作为原料的利用将促进大豆油的工业应用，并直接使美国农业和农民受益。该项目将影响特种化学品和聚合物乳液市场。这个I-Corps项目致力于将大豆油转化为可持续的绿色脂肪醇和乙烯基单体的长期目标。关键的技术进步是使用碱催化的酰胺化反应，在环境友好的一锅法湿化学工艺下将甘油三酯转化为脂肪酰胺醇，避免了目前工业生产中通常使用的高压氢气氢化。进一步衍生成乙烯基单体也保证了使用无溶剂和高转化率的方法，这些方法在成本和环境问题以及附加的独特性能方面与基于石油化工的乙烯基单体具有竞争力。该项目将探索工业需求，并寻求反馈，以重新设计脂肪醇和乙烯基单体的化学和组成，以实现大规模生产和商业成功。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is across applications in the areas of surfactants, detergents, personal cares, lubricants, adhesives and coatings. The success of this project is directly related with the reduction of carbon footprint in commodity products to complement or replace petrochemical-based counterparts. The utilization of soybean oil as raw materials would promote the industry application of soybean oil and directly benefit U.S. agriculture and farmers. The project will impact the markets of specialty chemicals and polymer emulsion. This I-Corps project addresses a long lasting goal of converting soybean oil into sustainable, green fatty alcohols and vinyl monomers. The key technological advance is the use of a base-catalyzed amidation reaction to transform triglycerides into fatty amide alcohols under an environmentally friendly, one-pot wet chemistry process, circumventing the use of hydrogenation at high pressure with hydrogen gas that is usually practiced in the current manufacturing of industry. Further derivatization into vinyl monomers also warrants the use of solvent-free and high conversion processes that are competitive with petrochemical-based vinyl monomers in terms of cost and environmental concerns as well as add-on unique properties. This project will be exploring the needs from industry and seeking feedback for re-designing chemistry and compositions of fatty alcohol and vinyl monomers toward large-scale production and business success.