One-Step Production of 1,3-Butadiene from 2,3-Butanediol Dehydration

Xi Liu; Viktoria Fabos; Stuart Taylor; David W Knight; Keith Whiston; Graham J Hutchings

doi:10.1002/chem.201602390

One-Step Production of 1,3-Butadiene from 2,3-Butanediol Dehydration

Chemistry. 2016 Aug 22;22(35):12290-4. doi: 10.1002/chem.201602390. Epub 2016 Jul 26.

Authors

Xi Liu^{1

2}, Viktoria Fabos¹, Stuart Taylor¹, David W Knight¹, Keith Whiston³, Graham J Hutchings⁴

Affiliations

¹ Cardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK.
² Syncat@Beijing, Synfuels China Technology Co.,Ltd, Beijing, 101407, China.
³ INVISTA Textiles (UK) Limited, P.O. Box 2002, Wilton Redcar, TS10 4XX, UK.
⁴ Cardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK. hutch@cardiff.ac.uk.

PMID: 27392112
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201602390

Abstract

We report the direct production of 1,3-butadiene from the dehydration of 2,3-butandiol by using alumina as catalyst. Under optimized kinetic reaction conditions, the production of methyl ethyl ketone and isobutyraldehyde, formed via the pinacol-pinacolone rearrangement, was markedly reduced and almost 80 % selectivity to 1,3-butadiene and 1,3-butadiene could be achieved. The presence of water plays a critical role in the inhibition of oligomerization. The amphoteric nature of γ-Al2 O3 was identified as important and this contributed to the improved catalytic selectivity when compared with other acidic catalysts.

Keywords: 1,3-butadiene; 2,3-butanediol; alumina; catalysis; dehydration.