Posted on 03/29/2011 1:10:05 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Scientists are reporting discovery of an environmentally friendly way to make a key industrial material -- used in products ranging from paints to diapers -- from a renewable raw material without touching the traditional pricey and increasingly scarce petroleum-based starting material.
Their report on a new catalyst for making acrylic acid appears in ACS Catalysis.
Weijie Ji, Chak-Tong Au, and colleagues note that acrylic acid is essential for making paints, adhesives, textiles, leather treatments, and hundreds of other products. Global demand for the colorless liquid totals about 4 million tons annually. Acrylic acid is typically made from propylene obtained from petroleum. With prices rising, manufacturers have been seeking alternative ways of making acrylic acid without buying propylene. One possibility involves making it from lactic acid. But current processes for using lactic acid are inefficient, less selective, and require higher temperatures and the accompanying high inputs of energy.
The scientists' potential solution is a new catalyst that can convert lactic acid into acrylic acid more efficiently.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Sweet! We already turn corn into fuel. Now we can turn milk into paint. Just a couple more food groups to go and we’ll destroy the entire food pyramid.
Screw green, use our abundant oil!!!!
Does this mean that cow burps are now eco-friendly?
*Sweet! We already turn corn into fuel. Now we can turn milk into paint. Just a couple more food groups to go and we’ll destroy the entire food pyramid.*
Back in the old days farmers made red paint out of milk and rust
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