LAUSR

McClelland, D.J., et al. 2021. “Renewable Linear Alpha-Olefins by Base-Catalyzed Dehydration of Biologically-Derived Fatty Alcohols.” Green Chemistry. DOI: 10.1039/D1GC00243K. Background/objective Linear alpha olefins (LAOs) are widely used to produce plasticizers, surfactants, lubricants, and polyethylene comonomers. With recent efforts to move society toward a circular economy, there is interest in the production of LAOs from renewable resources — although integrating biological and chemical catalysis is a major challenge for supplying commodify chemicals from renewable resources on an industrial scale. In this study, we take one of our target CABBI products, fatty alcohols, and upgrade it to LAO catalytically. Technoeconomic analysis (TEA) of this combined biological and catalytic process identifies core improvements required for making this process economically viable.