Biobased Phenol Shipped
The Koreans figured it out, likely with some help from the Finnish
Hey There,
I noticed that LG Chem has officially shipped their first shipment of biobased phenol and acetone to an unnamed polycarbonate producer. When I was in graduate school there was a lot of talk about trying to produce phenol from lignin, but there were always issues around purity, feedstock provenance, and cost. Well, it appears as if LG Chem and Neste have figured out how to make biobased cumene.
If you have no idea what phenol or cumene are it really doesn’t matter. What you need to know is that this is a chemical used in the production of a myriad of different polymers that you use everyday and you just need them to work. These polymers made from phenol stop your car in traffic, help make the airplane you fly in more fuel efficient, and they are the reason wind turbine blades can be so big. Phenol based polymers such as phenolic resins, epoxy resins, and polycarbonate are what are known as engineering polymers. Engineering polymers are prized for their strength, ability to withstand heat, chemical resistance, and low density. A world that keeps global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius is a world dependent on engineering polymers.
The Upstream Unlock
From about the late 1930s or early 1940s chemists figured out to make something called cumene which they got by reacting benzene (obtained via petrochemical distillation processes) and propylene (obtained via steam cracking propane). React cumene with some oxygen and we get equal amounts of phenol and acetone—the building blocks for bisphenol A and a building block for epoxy resins and polycarbonate. Phenol and formaldehyde (we get this from carbon monoxide) give us phenolic resins. To me, getting a biobased phenol was a key step in transitioning the polymer industry away from crude oil. Granted, we would need A LOT of capacity to get there.
I believe LG Chem is making biobased cumene because both the phenol and acetone are coming from the same plant. If this is going to work economically I suspect it’s going to be from a biobased cumene route. LG Chem would just need to produce benzene and propanol or propane.
I thought this bit of news was promising and I’ll try and keep my eye on LG Chem and Neste on what other biobased chemicals they are potentially bringing to market. If LG Chem’s biobased phenol and acetone get successfully turned into BPA and polycarbonate then I suspect it wont be long till we see more capacity getting brought online.