Nuclear Cogeneration of Methanol and Acetaldehyde from Ethylene Glycol Using Ionizing Radiation

Plant, Arran and Kos, Bor and Jazbec, Anze and Snoj, Luca and Joyce, Malcolm and Najdanovic‐Visak, Vesna (2023) Nuclear Cogeneration of Methanol and Acetaldehyde from Ethylene Glycol Using Ionizing Radiation. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 62 (49). pp. 21152-21163. ISSN 0888-5885

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Abstract

Despite offering low-carbon and reliable energy, the utilization of nuclear energy is declining globally due to high upfront capital costs and longer returns on investments. Nuclear cogeneration of valuable chemicals from waste biomass-derived feedstocks could have beneficial impacts while harnessing the underutilized resource of ionizing energy. Here, we demonstrate selective methanol or acetaldehyde production from ethylene glycol, a feedstock derived from glycerol, a byproduct of biodiesel, using irradiations from a nuclear fission reactor. The influence of radiation quality, dose rate, and the absorbed dose of irradiations on radiochemical yields (G-value) has been studied. Under low-dose-rate, γ-only radiolysis during reactor shutdown rate (