Using this solvent, James Dumesic, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and his team have managed to develope a way of producing furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA); and, most importantly, in a potentially cost-efficient way. This chemical is important in the development of the renewable plastic polyethylene furanoate (PEF).
The non-renewable, petroleum version of this (PET), used by many of the largest plastic producers or users, like soda producers Coca-Cola for example, could potentially be replaced with this new renewable plastic if it can be produced in large enough quantities and with economic advantages. Many of these large corporations are willing to transition into using sustainable, plant-based, renewable materials for their products; so, there is a remarkably large market poised to take advantage of these new scientific developments. These plastics can be utilized in bottles, other forms of packaging, shoes and clothing. But currently, at this scale, economic efficiency has yet to be achieved; FDCA has been a highly expensive chemical to produce.
According to the study’s co-author Ali Hussain Motagamwala, also a UW-Madison graduate student in chemical and biological engineering, “Until now, FDCA has had a very low solubility in practically any solvent you make it in... you have to use a lot of solvent to get a small amount of FDCA, and you end up with high separation costs and undesirable waste products."
The new process, developed by Motagamwala and colleagues, involves converting fructose to FDCA in a solvent system containing equal measurements of GVL and water. This forms water powder which can be easily extracted from the solvent once cooled. Motagamwala said, "Using the GVL solvent solves most of the problems with the production of FDCA," adding, "Sugars and FDCA are both highly soluble in this solvent, you get high yields, and you can easily separate and recycle the solvent."
Due to the efficient process, which doesn’t require relatively costly materials and reduces those limited separation costs, the team believes the product could eventually be produced to be economically competitive with some of the currently-used fossil fuel alternatives. Dumesic said, "We think this is the streamlined and inexpensive approach to making FDCA that many people in the plastics industry have been waiting for.”
For more information on the Chemical and Biological Engineering team at UW-Madison, and their research, you can click here
For more plastics engineering, find out how Engineers Developed Edible Straws to Combat Plastic Pollution.