E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

APPLICATION OF TECHNOLOGY:

• Chemical manufacturing
• Hydrocarbon oxidation

ADVANTAGES:

• Works at ambient temperature
• Highly selective
• Energy-efficient process
• Environmentally benign

ABSTRACT:

Heinz Frei, Fritz Blatter and Hai Sun have developed a selective thermal or photochemical oxidation procedure that favors oxidation of unsubstituted alkanes, alkenes, aromatics and cycloalkyls in solvent-free zeolites under dark thermal conditions or under irradiation with visible light. These small abundant hydrocarbons are oxidized to their corresponding carbonyl analogs. This new, energy-efficient, environmentally-sound method drives highly selective thermal oxidation and photooxidation reactions from molecular oxygen, using visible light in a zeolite medium. The process oxidizes hydrocarbons almost completely selectively without substantial production of byproducts. With this method, investigators have produced acrolein from propylene, benzalde-hyde from toluene, and cyclohexanone from cyclohexane.

STATUS: U.S. Patents #6,329,553. Available for licensing

REFERENCE NUMBER: IB-1229B