Butadiene (also known as 1,3-butadiene) is an important organic chemical that serves as a key building block in the production of various industrial and consumer products. It is a colorless gas with a mild gasoline-like odor.

Production Methods

Butadiene can be produced through two main methods — crude oil processing and ethanol processing. In crude oil processing, butadiene is extracted from naphtha cracking of petroleum. It is one of the co-products of the process along with ethylene and benzene. In ethanol processing, also known as bio-butadiene production, butadiene is derived from fermenting plant materials like sugarcane or corn. This provides a renewable source of Butadiene. New technologies using biomass gasification or metabolic engineering are being researched to further improve bio-butadiene yields.

Major End Use Products

Some of the key end use products where butadiene finds application include:

Synthetic Rubbers — Butadiene is polymerized to make synthetic rubbers like polybutadiene rubber (PBR) and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR). These rubbers are used extensively in tires, hoses, belts, footwear and other rubber goods due to properties like resilience, wear resistance and flexibility. Tire manufacturing alone accounts for over 50% demand for butadiene.

Polymer Industries — Butadiene is used as a comonomer in making plastics like acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins and styrene-butadiene latexes (SBL). ABS is used in lego bricks, pipes, electronic equipment casings etc due to its toughness and heat resistance. SBL has applications in paper coatings, adhesives and sealants.

Nitroparaffins — Through reaction with nitric acid, butadiene can be converted to manufactured products like neopentyl glycol (NPG) and hexanediol (HDO). NPG and HDO see widespread use as polyester raw materials and in polyurethane elastomers synthesis.

Others — Butadiene also goes into making high performance coatings, cumarone-indene resins for tires, butyl rubber and latex gloves due to its chemical versatility. Research is also examining ways to use butadiene in complex molecules synthesis.