Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A two-step strategy for the selective conversion of ethanol to propene and hydrogen

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Chemical Papers Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Simultaneous production of propene and hydrogen from ethanol is a promising way of a renewable feedstock conversion into value-added products. Conventional reaction schemes of the direct one-step catalytic conversion of ethanol into propene include the reaction of the isopropanol dehydration to propene. However, the dehydration ability of a catalyst inevitably gives rise to the ethanol dehydration to ethene that diminishes the propene yield. To avoid ethanol dehydration to ethene, the two-step process is composed of the ethanol conversion to acetone in the first step and the acetone conversion to propene in the second step. The thermodynamic analysis of the known reaction pathways for the ethanol conversion to propene shows that a 74.6% yield of propene can be achieved even at a low temperature of 200 °C. According to the literature data, possible catalysts can be Cu/La2Zr2O7 or Fe3O4 for the first step, and the mixed Ag–In/SiO2 and K3PW12O40 catalyst for the second step. We speculate that the propene yield may reach 72% using these catalysts in the two-step process.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bussi J, Parodi S, Irigaray B, Kieffer R (1998) Catalytic transformation of ethanol into acetone using copper–pyrochlore catalysts. Appl Catal A 172:117–129

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham J, Al-Sayyed GH, Cronin J, Fierro JLG, Healy C, Hirschwald W, Ilyas M, Tobin JP (1986a) Surface synergisms between copper and its oxides. I. lsopropanol dehydrogenation over unsupported CuO, Cu2O, and Cu metal. J Catal 102:160–171

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham J, Al-Sayyed GH, Cronin JA, Healy C, Hirschwald W (1986b) Surface synergisms between copper and its oxides in catalytic isopropanol/acetone interconversions at 430–523 K. Appl Catal 25:129–138

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dolgykh LY, Stolyarchuk IL, Staraya LA, Pyatnytsky YI (2018a) Steam reforming of ethanol on ferrites. Theor Exp Chem 54:349–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dolgykh LY, Pyatnytsky YI, Strizhak PE (2018). In: Brienzo M (ed) Hydrogen production from bioethanol on mixed oxide catalysts. Bioethanol and Beyond. Advances in Production Process and Future Directions. Nova Sci Publ, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliott DJ, Pennella F (1989) The formation of ketones in the presence of carbon monoxide over CuO/ZnO/Al2O3. J Catal 119:359–367

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hayashi F, Iwamoto M (2013) Yttrium-modified ceria as a highly durable catalyst for the selective conversion of ethanol to propylene and ethylene. ACS Catal 3:14–17

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hayashi F, Tanaka M, Lin D, Iwamoto M (2014) Surface structure of yttrium-modified ceria catalysts and reaction pathways from ethanol to propylene. J Catal 316:112–120

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang R, Fung V, Wu Z, Jianga D (2020) Understanding the conversion of ethanol to propene on In2O3 from first principles. Catal Today 350:19–24

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Iwamoto M (2015) Selective catalytic conversion of bio-ethanol to propylene: a review of catalysts and reaction pathways. Catal Today 242:243–248

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Iwamoto M, Mizuno S, Tanaka M (2013) Direct and selective production of propylene from bio-ethanol on Sc-Loaded In2O3 Catalysts. Chem Eur J 19:7214–7220

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Larmier K, Chizallet C, Cadran N, Maury S, Abboud J, Lamic-Humblot A-F, Marceau E, Lauron-Pernot H (2015) Mechanistic investigation of isopropanol conversion on alumina catalysts: location of active sites for alkene/ether production. ACS Catal 5:4423–4437

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Kant A, He Y, Thakkar HV, Atanga MA, Rezaei F, Ludlow DK, Ali A, Rownaghi AA (2016) Light olefins from renewable resources: Selective catalytic dehydration of bioethanol to propylene over zeolite and transition metal oxide catalysts. Catal Today 276:62–77

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Z, Senanayake SD, Rodriguez JA (2019) Catalysts for the steam reforming of ethanol and other alcohols. In: Iulianelli A, Dalena F, Veziroglu TN (eds) Basile A. Ethanol Science and Engineering, Elsevier, pp 133–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Matheus CRV, Aguiar EFS (2020) The role of MPV reaction in the synthesis of propene from ethanol through the acetone route. Catal Commun 145:106096

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matheus CRV, Chagas LH, Gonzalez G, Sousa-Aguiar EF, Appel LG (2018) The synthesis of propylene from ethanol: a mechanistic study. ACS Catal 8:7667–7678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murthy RS, Patnaik P, Sidheswaran P, Jayamani M (1988) Conversion of ethanol to acetone over promoted iron oxide catalysts. J Catal 109:298–302

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nakajima T, Yamaguchi T, Tanabe K (1987) Efficient synthesis of acetone from ethanol over ZnO-CaO catalyst. J Chem Soc Chem Commun. https://doi.org/10.1039/C39870000394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakajima T, Tanabe K, Yamaguchi T, Matsuzaki I, Mishima S (1989) Conversion of ethanol to acetone over zinc oxide-calcium oxide catalyst: optimization of catalyst preparation and reaction conditions and deduction of reaction mechanism. Appl Catal 52:237–248

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nakajima T, Nameta H, Mishima S, Matsuzaki I, Tanabe K (1994) A highly active and highly selective oxide catalyst for the conversion of ethanol to acetone in the presence of water vapour. J Mater Chem 4:853–858

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nishiguchi T, Matsumoto T, Kanai H, Utani K, Matsumura Y, Shen WJ, Imamura S (2005) Catalytic steam reforming of ethanol to produce hydrogen and acetone. Appl Catal A 279:273–277

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ohkubo T, Fujiwara K, Fujita T, Ishibashi M, (Mitsui Chemicals, Inc Tokyo), (2013) Olefin production process. United States Patent US 8(552):239

    Google Scholar 

  • Pang J, Zheng M, Zhang T (2019) Synthesis of ethanol and its catalytic conversion. Adv Catal 64:89–191

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Posada JA, Patel AD, Roes A (2013) Potential of bioethanol as a chemical building block for biorefineries: preliminary sustainability assessment of 12 bioethanol-based products. Bioresource Technol 135:490–499

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pyatnytsky YI, Strizhak P E (2018) Calculating Equilibrium and Simulating Kinetics of Heterogeneous Catalytic Reactions. https://www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/Calculating-Equilibrium-and-Simulating-Kinetics-of-Heterogeneous-Catalytic-Reactions.

  • Pyatnytsky YI, Dolgykh LY, Senchilo LM, Staraya LA, Strizhak PE (2019) Catalytic two-step process for the production of propylene from bioethanol. Theor Exp Chem 55:50–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stull RD, Westrum EF, Sinke GC (1969) The Chemical Thermodynamics of Organic Compounds. John Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang F, Xia W, Mu X, Chen K, Si H, Li Z (2018) A combined experimental and theoretical study on ethanol conversion to propylene over Y/ZrO2 catalyst. Appl Surf Sci 439:405–412

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xia W, Wang F, Mu X, Chen K, Takahashi A, Nakamura I, Fujitani T (2017) Highly selective catalytic conversion of ethanol to propylene over yttrium-modified zirconia catalyst. Catal Commun 90:10–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xue F, Miao C, Yue Y, Hua W, Gao Z (2017) Direct conversion of bio-ethanol to propylene in high yield over the composite of In2O3 and zeolite beta. Green Chem 19:5582–5590

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yurieva TM (1999) Mechanisms for activation of hydrogen and hydrogenation of acetone to isopropanol and of carbon oxides to methanol over copper-containing oxide catalysts. Catal Today 51:457–467

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zacharopoulou V, Lemonidou AA (2018) Olefins from Biomass Intermediates: a Review. Catalysts 8:2–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Target Program of the National Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine “Development of scientific grounds for hydrogen production, storage, and use in autonomous energy supply systems”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. L.V. Pisarzhevskii Institute of Physical Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

    Yuri Pyatnitsky, Lidiia Dolgikh, Liubov Senchylo, Larissa Stara & Peter Strizhak

Authors
  1. Yuri Pyatnitsky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lidiia Dolgikh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Liubov Senchylo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Larissa Stara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Peter Strizhak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuri Pyatnitsky.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Table 1 Numerical values of coefficients A, B, C, D, and E in Eq. (1)
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pyatnitsky, Y., Dolgikh, L., Senchylo, L. et al. A two-step strategy for the selective conversion of ethanol to propene and hydrogen. Chem. Pap. 75, 5773–5779 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-021-01758-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-021-01758-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation