Catalytic process could make useful byproducts from diesel

According to a statement, more sustainable production of sulphur-free diesel from natural gas and biomass is increasing but byproducts, such as hydrocarbons including decane and other low-value alkanes, are said to have little practical use.

But a discovery at the university’s Cardiff Catalysis Institute has found a potential route for upgrading these byproducts into more useful chemicals.

Previously, synthetic reactions starting from alkanes such as decane have posed difficulties, as they tend either to over-dehydrogenate or to combust, depending on whether oxygen is present in the reaction.

Now the institute, part of the university’s School of Chemistry, has reported the use of a mixed-metal catalyst to convert decane into a range of oxygenated aromatics.

The breakthrough, published in Nature Chemistry, came when the team fed a gas mixture of decane and air through an iron molybdate catalyst.

At higher temperatures, the reaction formed water and decene, which is used in the production of detergents. At lower temperatures, however, the reaction took a different route to create oxygenated aromatic molecules. These included phthalic anhydride, used in the dyeing industry, and coumarin, which helps in the production of anti-coagulant drugs.