LLNL researchers see way forward to produce acetaldehyde through nanotech

In California, optimize catalyst performance, a team of scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and collaborators has developed a detailed understanding of the effect of pretreatment-induced nanoscale structural and compositional changes on catalyst activity and long-term stability.

The research could make the production of the important industrial feedstock chemical acetaldehyde more efficient.

Improvements in the energy efficiency of chemical production is needed to meet global energy challenges. Heterogeneous catalysis using nanomaterials have the potential for substantially increasing efficiency through enhancement of reaction selectivity and decreasing the operating temperature for high-volume processes. Nanomaterials also may enable new catalytic processes that improve efficiency by eliminating the need for separation of byproducts, such as water.

The production of the acetaldehyde is a good example of the need to improve the energy efficiency of chemical transformations. Acetaldehyde is a starting material for several industrial chemicals.

But the LLNL team and collaborators found a way to stabilize nickel (Ni)-doped copper (Cu) catalysts that enable direct catalytic non-oxidative dehydrogenation of ethanol toward acetaldehyde and hydrogen, a clean fuel.