Recent Advances in Catalysts for the Conversion of Ethanol to Butadiene

Butadiene is an important monomer for synthetic rubbers. Currently, the annual demand of similar to 16 million tonnes is satisfied by butadiene produced as a byproduct of steam naphtha cracking where ethylene and propylene are the main products. The availability of large amounts of shale gas and condensates in the USA since about 2008 has led to a change in the cracker feed from naphtha to ethane and propane, affecting the amount of butadiene obtained. This has provided the impetus to look into direct processes for butadiene production. One option is the eco-friendly conversion of (bio) ethanol to butadiene (ETB). This process had been developed in the 1930s in the then Soviet Union. It was operated on a large scale in USA during World War II but has since been abandoned in favour of petroleum-based processes. The current trend, driven both by the availability of the raw material and ecological considerations, may make this process feasible again, particularly if the catalytic systems can be improved. This critical review discusses recent catalysts for the ETB process with special focus on the development since 2014, benchmarking them against earlier systems with a large database of operational experience.