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

这个i-Corps项目的广泛影响/商业潜力涉及表面活性剂、洗涤剂、个人护理、润滑剂、粘合剂和涂料领域的应用。该项目的成功直接关系到减少商品产品的碳足迹，以补充或取代使用石化产品的同类产品。大豆油作为原料的利用将促进大豆油的工业应用，并直接惠及美国农业和农民。该项目将影响特种化学品和聚合物乳液的市场。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，在环境友好的一锅湿化学法下将甘油三酯转化为脂肪酰胺醇，避免了目前工业制造中通常使用的高压氢气加氢。进一步衍生为乙烯基单体也需要使用无溶剂和高转化率的工艺，这些工艺在成本和环境问题以及附加独特性能方面与石化基乙烯基单体具有竞争力。该项目将探索工业的需求，并为重新设计脂肪醇和乙烯基单体的化学和组成寻求反馈，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.