Patent ID: 8222354

Claim:
An integrated process for the production of ethylene-butylene copolymers, 1-butylene being a comonomer, ethanol and the butanol being raw materials, which are obtained from vegetable sourced materials, via the fermentation of sugars extracted therefrom, comprising the steps of: a) producing sugars through extraction and processing of the vegetable sourced raw materials; b) feeding the sugar streams to a vat under ethanol producing must fermentation conditions; c) distilling the ethanol containing leavened must stream in a distiller for the separation of ethanol; d) dehydrating ethanol in the ethanol stream in a dehydration reactor, for obtaining an ethylene stream, to be purified in a distiller, producing ethylene to be fed to a reactor; wherein said process further includes, in an integrated fashion, the following steps: e) dehydrating a portion of the ethanol stream, in a dehydrogenation reactor, for obtaining an acetaldehyde and/or optionally feeding a portion of the ethanol stream to a direct synthesis reactor, for directly obtaining a 1-butanol stream; f) aldolic condensation of the acetaldehyde stream from the dehydrogenation reactor, in a condensation reactor for obtaining a 3 hydroxy-butanol exit stream; g) dehydrating 3 hydroxy-butanol from the condensation reactor, in a dehydration reactor to obtain a crotonaldehyde exit stream; h) hydrogenating crotonaldehyde from the dehydrating reaction, in a hydrogenating reactor to obtain 1-butanol; i) optionally, feeding sugar streams to vats, under 1-butanol producing must fermentation conditions; j) distilling 1-butanol containing leavened must stream, in a distiller, for separating 1-butanol; k) dehydrating 1-butanol from the 1-butanol stream, from step e), and/or from the 1-butanol stream, from step h), and/or from the mixtures thereof, and/or from the fermentation of sugars in steps i) and j), in the presence of alumina, silica, silico-alumina, zeolites and other metallic oxide catalysts, with a residence time varying from 0.1 to 60 seconds, and at temperatures ranging from 150° C. to 380° C., in an adiabatic or isothermic, fluidized or fixed bed dehydration reactor, for obtaining butylene isomers mixture; l) distilling the butylene isomers mixture stream, from the dehydration reactor, in a distiller, which outputs the 1-butylene stream, and 2-butylene isomer streams; m) isomerizing the 2-butylene isomers stream in the isomerization reactor, for obtaining the 1-butylene and 2-butylene isomer mixture stream which returns to the distiller; and n) polymerizing ethylene from the ethylene streams and 1-butylene from the 1-butylene stream, in the polymerization reactor, for obtaining the ethylene-butylene copolymer which has 100% renewable natural origin carbon.