bioethene

Bioethene, or bioethylene, is ethylene produced from renewable biomass rather than fossil fuels. It is intended to be a drop-in replacement for conventional ethylene in the chemical industry, offering a lower-carbon alternative for the same applications and process streams.

The most common production route uses ethanol derived from biomass—such as sugarcane, corn, or lignocellulosic feedstocks—which is dehydrated over solid acid catalysts to yield ethylene and water. Other approaches include gasification of biomass to produce syngas followed by catalytic synthesis of ethylene, or routes that use fermentation to generate ethylene precursors. Some research explores direct biological production of ethylene, but these methods are largely at experimental or pilot stages.

Ethylene is a foundational feedstock for manufacturing polyethylene, ethylene oxide, ethylbenzene, and related chemicals. Bioethene aims to supply these products with reduced net greenhouse gas emissions and improved resource sustainability, ideally compatible with existing refinery and polymer-processing infrastructure, notwithstanding differences in feedstock supply chains and certification needs.

Challenges for bioethene include ensuring accurate life-cycle emissions accounting, avoiding competition with food crops for land, achieving cost parity with petrochemical ethylene, and scaling reliable biomass supply chains. Market development depends on robust certification standards for renewable content, policy incentives, and demonstrated performance at commercial scales. As of the mid-2020s, bioethene is produced mainly in pilot or small commercial facilities in several regions, with most ethylene still produced from fossil sources.