Styrene is a versatile monomer that is widely used to
produce polystyrene and other polymers. Styrene is typically produced by the
chemo-catalytic dehydrogenation of petroleum-derived ethylbenzene. This process
is both highly energy-intensive and uses non-sustainable feedstocks. For these
reasons, a means to produce styrene that is more efficient, less expensive, and
more sustainable would have immediate applications.
Researchers at Arizona State University have engineered a
strain of E. coli that uses sustainable carbohydrates (sugars) as a
substrate to produce styrene. Small cultures (50 mL volume) of this
recombinant E. coli strain produced more than 7mg (140 mg/L) of
styrene within 24 hours. An additional gene can be incorporated to convert the
styrene to styrene oxide (used in the production of some cosmetics and
pharmaceuticals).
This method is scalable to industrial volumes and promises
the ability to produce important chemical and pharmaceutical monomers in a
manner which is efficient, economic, and sustainable.
Potential Applications
- Production of styrene monomer for
- polystyrene
- other polymers and copolymers
- Production of styrene oxide for
- pharmaceuticals (such as levamisole, used in
dermatology)
- cosmetics
Benefits and Advantages
- Sustainable – uses carbohydrates or sugars, such as
glucose, as the feedstock
- Lower energy requirements and greater economy compared to
existing methods (which require >107 BTU of steam/ton of styrene
produced)
- Produces enantiomerically pure compounds requiring no
purification steps
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For more information about the inventor(s) and their
research, please see
Dr. Nielsen's laboratory webpage
