Karp and his team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory successfully extracted 50 grams of acrylonitrile from biological resources, completing the first phase of a project sponsored by the US Department of Energy. According to the requirements of the second phase of the project, the team will try to extract 50 kg of acrylonitrile, convert it into carbon fiber, and test it.
"Carbon fiber is a magical lightweight material." Karp said, "Think about it. If you replace all steel and aluminum in a car with carbon fiber, a gallon of gasoline can be used under the current engine technology Run 60 kilometers. "
Development of new processes
Today, the global annual production of acrylonitrile reaches 70 million tons, most of which are processed into acrylonitrile fibers for the production of apparel fabrics and carpets. However, the method for producing acrylonitrile from petroleum resources consumes a lot of energy and produces toxic by-product hydrocyanic acid. The U.S. Department of Energy has been looking for a cleaner alternative, a new process (less than $ 1 / lb) that is not affected by fluctuations in oil prices and is low enough to enable mass production.
"We have proposed six processes for preparing acrylonitrile from biological resources." Gregg Beckham, a senior researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, wrote in a report submitted to the Ministry of Energy for funding support. He also proposed the establishment of a renewable carbon fiber alliance led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. They tested three of the six processes, including a new catalytic process they called "Nitrilation."
The acrylonitrile output of this new process reaches 98%, while the usual petrochemical refining method can only reach 80% -83%. Based on this, the Ministry of National Energy proposes to temporarily shelve the remaining three process technologies to future generations.
It is claimed that the Nitrilation process can be used with different biological resources. In the first phase of the project, corn straw was used by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The sugar contained in corn stalk is converted into 3-hydroxypropionic acid by the action of microorganisms, and then converted into acrylonitrile through subsequent steps.
"In the process, we replaced individual genes of the strains used. Because under natural conditions, they did not originally produce 3-hydroxypropionic acid," said Sànchez i Nogué, a researcher in charge of the biological part of the project. In the second phase of the project, Cargill will step in and complete the mass production of carbon fibers. Because they have mastered industrial mass-producing strains, the efficiency of producing 3-hydroxypropionic acid is much higher than in our laboratory. "
As members of the Recycled Carbon Fiber Alliance, Cargill and other companies have played a vital role in the continued progress of the project. West Virginia's non-profit research institute MATRIC is responsible for converting 3-hydroxypropionic acid produced by Cargill to acrylonitrile. A Portuguese company then converted acrylonitrile to carbon fiber and delivered it to Ford. Ford is responsible for producing carbon fiber composite parts and comparing them to parts produced using traditional processes.
"I look forward to the day when this new process will finally be put into industrial production," Karp said.
Strict schedule
"It's not easy to implement this project," Karp added. "We have a rigorous schedule. We have to restore the method described in the paper 100 years ago within six months of the project's launch. We have done it. Next , We are going to show our new craft to the world. "
"Different from traditional petrochemical refining methods, the new Nitrilation process generates acrylonitrile, and also produces by-products water and ethanol. Ethanol can be recycled." In addition, the catalyst used in the Nitrilation process is simpler and can reduce production costs. Reduce by two thirds.
Whether acrylonitrile prepared by this biological resource method can finally meet the requirements of industrial mass production depends on the final test results of Ford. "But if we use it to make airplanes, is it safe enough? If it is used to make cars, is it safe enough? If it is only used to make golf clubs, then we also spend energy studying what industrial mass production technology does ? "
As the schedule progresses, I believe we will soon find the answers to these questions.