Covestro has achieved a major research breakthrough, which involves using biomass to produce aniline.
To reach this breakthrough, Covestro collaborated with a number of partners to develop a completely new process of producing aniline, through the use of biomass.
Until now, only fossil raw materials had been used for the production of aniline, which has an important role in the chemical industry and is used as a starting product for numerous products.
Covestro now plans to further develop the process together with partners from industry and research.
The first step is to upscale the process in a pilot plant with the ultimate goal of enabling the production of a bio-based aniline on an industrial scale, which would be an unprecedented achievement in the chemical industry.
Around five million metric tonnes of aniline is produced annually worldwide, and the total volume has been increasing by around five per cent every year, and Covestro is one of the leading producers, with a production capacity of around one million metric tonnes.
The company requires aniline as a precursor for rigid PU foam, a highly efficient insulating material used in buildings and refrigeration systems.
Dr Gernot Jäger, Covestro Project Manager, said: “The process currently under development uses renewable raw materials and produces aniline with a much better carbon dioxide footprint than if manufactured with standard technology. This also enables our customers to markedly improve the carbon dioxide footprint of their aniline-based products.”
The industry currently derives aniline from benzene, a petroleum-based raw material.
However, industrial sugar, which is already derived on a large scale from straw and wood, can be used instead.
The newly developed process uses a microorganism as a catalyst to first convert the industrial sugar into an aniline precursor.
The aniline is then derived by means of chemical catalysis into a second step.
Jäger said: “This means one hundred per cent of the carbon in the aniline comes from renewable raw materials.”
Covestro is working with the University of Stuttgart, the CAT Catalytic Centre at RWTH Aachen University, and Bayer AG to further develop the process.
Jäger concluded: “The interdisciplinary, motivated team combines all of the needed expertise at a very high level, and is the basis for continued success.”