Hierarchical Zeolite Catalysts for Renewable Surfactants Platform

Current catalytic routes to surfactants used in the $12 billion cleaning products industry are energy intensive and inefficient, producing molecules with limited function and high energy cost. There exists an opportunity to significantly reduce the energy intensity of laundry detergents production and transportation through the design of a hierarchical catalyst material that can be used to precisely synthesize a new platform of renewable oleofuran surfactants with improved detergency properties. Conventionally, surfactants for laundry detergents are co-formulated with chelating agents, which help boost the detergency performance of a surfactant in hard water conditions, but add substantial cost, volume, and negative environmental impact. Through Phase I research, a new class of oleo-furan surfactants were identified to have 100x greater hard water stability compared with existing surfactants, meaning they can be used in detergent formulations free of chelating agents. This enables detergent products with up to 30% higher concentration, less cost, and lower energy requirements through a reduction in chemical production and transportation cost. The self-pillared pentasil catalyst materials in this proposal are designed to target the hydrophilic/hydrophobic nature of surfactant molecules and the large molecular size of natural oils with atomically precise pillared catalyst structures that mimic the binding pocket of an enzyme, increasing throughput by three orders of magnitude. Phase I research has demonstrated catalytic synthesis routes and best performing molecules for commercialization and scale up under a Phase II research project. The work outlined in this proposal aims to utilize new catalyst materials to selectively synthesize the oleo-furan surfactants in high yields using a scalable process design. The research will develop a new environmentally friendly and scalable synthesis process for the oleo-furan surfactant using atomically-precise hierarchical catalysts. Proposed experiments will use liquid phase catalytic systems to evaluate catalyst performance and structure-activity relationships. This Phase II research will develop a scalable process for synthesis and chemical separation and purification of the oleo-furan surfactant, enabling continued scale up and production. The oleo-furan surfactant provides a substantial performance and cost reduction competitive advantage by eliminating the need for chelating agents in formulations, which will enable substantial market expansion of bio-renewable laundry detergents and cleaning products.