The increased availability of natural gas liquids (from shale gas) at record low prices has led to the announcement of several megaton ethylene crackers in the US with a cumulative capacity that is expected to exceed 10 million metric tones/yr by 2020.  This remarkable growth in the US chemical industry, characterized by increased availabilities of methane and propane, provides renewed impetus for developing resource-efficient (i.e., conserving feedstock and energy) catalytic technologies.   This talk will highlight opportunities and fresh challenges for the catalysis community to make an impact in this arena.  Examples to be discussed include recent discoveries in the selective epoxidation of ethylene and propylene over Nb-based heterogeneous catalysts eliminating CO2 formation as byproduct, and the spray oxidation of p-xylene to terephthalic acid.

Resource-efficient catalytic technologies for upgrading shale gas components

248th National Meeting (2014)

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