Sumitomo Chemical Achieves Scale-Up of Proprietary Process for Direct Propylene Production from Ethanol
Tokyo, Japan – August 20, 2025 – Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. announced today a significant milestone in its commitment to sustainable chemical manufacturing: the successful scale-up of its proprietary process for the direct production of propylene from ethanol. This breakthrough represents a crucial step towards realizing a fundamental shift in raw material utilization within the petrochemical industry, moving away from fossil fuels towards bio-based alternatives.
The newly scaled-up process, detailed in a press release issued on August 20, 2025, offers a groundbreaking method for converting ethanol directly into propylene. Propylene is a vital building block in the petrochemical industry, used in the production of a vast array of essential materials, including plastics like polypropylene, synthetic fibers, and various industrial chemicals. Traditionally, propylene is derived from naphtha, a product of crude oil refining, making its production inherently linked to fossil resources.
Sumitomo Chemical’s innovative technology bypasses conventional multi-step processes, presenting a more direct and potentially more efficient route. This advancement holds immense promise for reducing the carbon footprint of the petrochemical sector and contributing to a more circular economy. By enabling the utilization of bio-ethanol, which can be produced from renewable biomass sources such as agricultural waste or dedicated energy crops, this technology offers a sustainable pathway for securing a critical industrial feedstock.
The successful scale-up signifies that the process has moved beyond laboratory or pilot-scale demonstrations and is now ready for further validation at a larger operational capacity. This achievement demonstrates the technical feasibility and robustness of Sumitomo Chemical’s proprietary catalyst and reaction engineering, which are central to the efficiency and selectivity of this novel conversion.
“We are extremely pleased to announce the successful scale-up of our direct ethanol-to-propylene process,” stated a spokesperson for Sumitomo Chemical. “This achievement is the culmination of extensive research and development efforts and underscores our dedication to driving innovation in sustainable chemistry. By enabling the direct production of propylene from bio-ethanol, we aim to significantly contribute to the petrochemical industry’s transition towards more environmentally friendly feedstocks and reduce reliance on fossil resources.”
The company further indicated that this scale-up will accelerate the demonstration of this new technology’s viability and economic competitiveness. Future efforts will focus on optimizing process parameters, evaluating long-term operational stability, and exploring various applications and market opportunities for bio-based propylene.
This development by Sumitomo Chemical is expected to have a ripple effect across the petrochemical landscape, encouraging further research and investment in bio-based chemical production and paving the way for a more sustainable future for the industry.
エタノールからプロピレンを直接製造する独自プロセスのスケールアップを達成
～石油化学産業の原料転換に貢献する新技術の実証を加速～
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住友化学 published ‘エタノールからプロピレンを直接製造する独自プロセスのスケールアップを達成
～石油化学産業の原料転換に貢献する新技術の実証を加速～‘ at 2025-08-20 00:17. Please write a detailed article about this news in a polite tone with relevant information. Please reply in English with the article only.