THE UNIVERSITY-OF-CALIFORNIA LOS-ANGELES STYRENE PROCESS

Styrene manufacture utilizes approximately 13 billion pounds of benzene each year. Existing technology alkylates benzene with ethylene and then dehydrogenates the ethylbenzene. Environmental considerations dictate that we should replace benzene, and the UCLA styrene process can. This process uses only mixed xylenes, which are more environmentally friendly than benzene, The UCLA styrene process converts equilibrium mixed xylenes, the cheapest aromatic source available, to styrene in a single high-temperature step. The mechanism of this remarkable oxidative rearrangement is complex, but the overall process is very simple.