Butane and Butadiene

Starting from biomass, butadiene potentially can be produced from ethanol: ethanol is firstly dehydrogenated to acetaldehyde, which is then followed by aldol condensation and dehydration over a catalyst to form butadiene, with an overall yield of 70% (Weissermel and Arpe, 2003). Butadiene can subsequently be converted to butane by reduction.

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FIGURE 6 Main conversion pathways for producing the existing bulk chemicals in fossil refinery from lignocel — lulosic biomass.