Integrated Process to Selectively Convert Renewable Isobutanol to P-Xylene
First Claim
1. A method for preparing renewable p-xylene comprising:
- (a) treating biomass to form a fermentation feedstock;
(b) fermenting the fermentation feedstock with one or more species of microorganism to form a fermentation broth comprising aqueous isobutanol;
(c) removing aqueous isobutanol from the fermentation broth;
(d) dehydrating, in the presence of a dehydration catalyst, at least a portion of the aqueous isobutanol of step (c), thereby forming a dehydration product comprising one or more C4 alkenes and water;
(e) dimerizing, in the presence of an oligomerization catalyst, a dimerization feedstock comprising at least a portion of the C4 alkenes formed in step (d), thereby forming a dimerization product comprising one or more C8 alkenes;
(f) dehydrocyclizing, in the presence of a dehydrocyclization catalyst, a dehydrocyclization feedstock comprising at least a portion of the C8 alkenes of step (e), thereby forming a dehydrocyclization product comprising xylenes and hydrogen, wherein the xylenes comprise at least about 75% p-xylene.
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to a method for preparing renewable and relatively high purity p-xylene from biomass. For example, biomass treated to provide a fermentation feedstock is fermented with a microorganism capable of producing a C4 alcohol such as isobutanol, then sequentially dehydrating the isobutanol in the presence of a dehydration catalyst to provide a C4 alkene such as isobutylene, dimerizing the C4 alkene to a form one or more C8 alkenes such as 2,4,4-trimethylpentenes or 2,5-dimethylhexene, then dehydrocyclizing the C8 alkenes in the presence of a dehydrocyclization catalyst to selectively form renewable p-xylene in high overall yield. The p-xylene can then be oxidized to form terephthalic acid or terephthalate esters.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. A method for preparing renewable p-xylene comprising:
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(a) treating biomass to form a fermentation feedstock; (b) fermenting the fermentation feedstock with one or more species of microorganism to form a fermentation broth comprising aqueous isobutanol; (c) removing aqueous isobutanol from the fermentation broth; (d) dehydrating, in the presence of a dehydration catalyst, at least a portion of the aqueous isobutanol of step (c), thereby forming a dehydration product comprising one or more C4 alkenes and water; (e) dimerizing, in the presence of an oligomerization catalyst, a dimerization feedstock comprising at least a portion of the C4 alkenes formed in step (d), thereby forming a dimerization product comprising one or more C8 alkenes; (f) dehydrocyclizing, in the presence of a dehydrocyclization catalyst, a dehydrocyclization feedstock comprising at least a portion of the C8 alkenes of step (e), thereby forming a dehydrocyclization product comprising xylenes and hydrogen, wherein the xylenes comprise at least about 75% p-xylene. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification