Innovative technology for bioethylene production

Atol™ is a technology for the most profitable production of polymer grade bioethylene by dehydration of 1G and 2G renewable ethanol. The bioethylene produced can be integrated in existing downstream polymerization installations such as polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polyethyleneterapphthalate (PET), PVC and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) without need for modifications.

Atol is the result of a partnership between Total, IFPEN and its affiliate Axens that started in 2011. Within this cooperation, Total developed a high performance catalyst formulation at its research centre in Feluy, Belgium, IFPEN scaled up catalyst performance within a heat recovery innovative process while Axens industrialised the catalyst formulation and finalized the process scheme with particular focus on the energy efficiency. Total and IFPEN are the co-owners of the technology and Axens is now in charge of commercialising Atol by providing all process licensing related services and catalyst manufacturing.

Atol’s features

• Lower capex by simplified product purification brought on by the outstanding performances of the ATO 201 catalyst which exhibits a high activity and selectivity towards ethylene.
• The robustness of its catalyst which copes with any variation in feedstock quality.
• The highly integrated process scheme which greatly reduces operating costs.
• Significant potential to be integrated with both upstream ethanol production and downstream ethylene conversion.

Adapted from press release by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/product-news/01042014/innovative_bioethylene_production/