Our goal is to develop an efficient and scalable preparation of alpha-olefins from fatty acids using heterogeneous catalysis. Several companies have major units focusing on the production of linear alpha olefins. These alpha olefins are derived from petroleum feedstocks.
The market for alpha olefins is approximately 2.5 million tons per year. They are used in detergents, surfactants and specialty chemicals. Unfortunately, there are few biorenewable-based counterparts for alpha olefins, since terminal olefins are not common components in plants. In contrast, fatty acids are major components.
The Kraus group has studied the conversion of fatty acids, readily available from corn oil, palm oil, and soybean oil, into linear alpha-olefins using a little-studied catalytic organic reaction that converts carboxylic acids into alkenes, water, and carbon monoxide. We have begun to study the scope and limitations of this little studied reaction. This reaction can be mediated either by homogeneous palladium or by rhodium catalysts. The reaction is depicted below. The key reaction parameters including catalyst type (homogeneous versus heterogeneous), temperature, solvent and additives (such as acetic anhydride) need to be thoroughly studied. The initial study employed lauric acid, an inexpensive saturated twelve-carbon fatty acid. Lauric acid, a twelve-carbon acid, has been converted into the corresponding eleven-carbon olefin. The few reports of this conversion utilize homogeneous catalysts and have been conducted on research scales.