Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/C528344/1
Title:	Olefin Separation by Reversible Binding to Transition Mratl Complexes
Principal Investigator:	Wass, Professor DF
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Chemistry
Organisation:	University of Bristol
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	16 October 2005	Ends:	15 October 2008	Value (£):	212,939
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Chemical Synthetic Methodology
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Chemicals Environment
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Ethylene is a simple but reactive chemical compound that is one of the most important building blocks in the petrochemical industry, used to make endproducts ranging from plastics to ethanol. It is produced in a process known as steam cracking from crude oil components in very large scale, a commercial-scale plant producing as much as 1 million tonnes each year. This process yields ethylene together with a mixture of other products which must then be separated. This separation is currently achieved by distillation at temperatures below -20 C; achieving such low temperatures at commercial scale is very costly, uses a lot of energy and produces a lot of undesirable greenhouse gases, such a carbon dioxide. Ethylene is also produced in smaller scale as a by-product of some crude oil refining processes but, because of these difficulties in separation, this valuable building block is simply burnt as a fuel in this case.The project is concerned with developing better, cheaper and more environmentally friendly ways of separating the ethylene produced in these processes. Other separation methods that could meet these targets are known and one of the most promising is based on the fact that certain other chemicals called metal complexes chemically bind to ethylene but not other components in the produced mixture. Under the right conditions, this chemical binding can be reversed to release pure ethylene. Unfortunately, the very simple metal complexes investigated to date have drawbacks and react in unwanted ways with some of the impurities present in ethylene-containing mixtures.In other areas of chemistry, using more complicated metal complexes can have dramatic benefits in controlling chemical reactivity to suppress unwanted chemical reactions. This project will investigate these new metal complexes with the aim of achieving ethylene separation without these undesirable reactions. Success could lead to much greener chemical technology in this important area.
Key Findings
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Organisation Website:	http://www.bris.ac.uk