I am aware of the current applications of Isobutanol as a solvent, or transportation fuel etc. I am looking for any novel recent research being conducted for different uses of Isobutanol, say to replace other chemicals currently used in various applications. Any suggestions of where I should look for such information are welcome.
Please see the attached file which contains a variety of existing & expected applications of isobutanol. What interested me most is its possible conversion into para-xylene then to terephthalic acid then to the famous polyester (PET).
Good luck.
Thanks Nizar for very informative article. However, I was wondering what is the process to make Para Xylene from Isobutanol that they have mentioned? Is it only through Isobutylene or is there any other possible route?
Dear Dr. Shembekar,
This astonished me as well but I guess that since p-xylene molecule contains 8 carbon atoms, then 2 molecules of isobutanol or (molecule of isobutanol+ molecule of isobutylene) are needed. Getting isobutylene is also an important advantage because the low temperature polymerization of this gas leads to polyisobutylene (the main rubbery material used for inner tubes of various tyres).
The isobutanol to p-xylene process patent application can be found here:
http://www.google.com/patents/US20110087000
Isobutanol is dehyrated, dimerised, then a dehydrocyclisation gives p-xylene for the PET (bio)-plastics industry.
Isobutanol can be converted into isobutyl chloride which is used for Friedel- Craft alkylaion reaction of benzene . It can be dehydrated to form isobutylene having importance in petroleum & gas industries.
Pharmaceutical chemical as high sadistic material . Long intake leads to damage of nervous system
is there any single step process for paraxylene from these feedstocks as two step process would be costlier. Kindly suggest!
You can see the applications of Iso-butanol as a solvent for printing inks and a solvent for chromatography separation of sugars.
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