Using a cobalt catalyst, light, and water, researchers have found a way to convert acetylene into ethylene at room temperature. The process is a less-expensive, less-energy-intensive path to the chemical used in the polymerization of plastics.
Ethylene is typically obtained by steam cracking, but this leaves behind trace amounts of acetylene that must then be removed via catalytic thermal hydrogenation. This process requires high pressures, high temperatures, and an external hydrogen feed gas, says Francesca Arcudi, a postdoctoral researcher in chemistry at Northwestern Univ. It also requires a palladium catalyst, which is costly, and produces ethane as an unwanted side product.
“There was this space to propose something that was more sustainable, more easy, more accessible,” Arcudi says. “Instead of using high temperatures, we use light, and instead of using this flammable hydrogen gas, we use plain water.”
Along with Northwestern’s Luka Đorđević, Arcudi is the co-first author of a new publication describing the catalyst in the...
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