Method and system embodiments for converting ethanol to para-xylene and ortho-xylene

A method, comprising:

• providing a stream comprising ethanol by subjecting at least one article to gasification to produce syngas and converting the syngas by gas fermentation to generate the stream comprising ethanol;
• contacting the feed stream comprising ethanol with an oxidation catalyst under oxidation conditions to form an oxidation zone effluent stream comprising acetaldehyde;
• passing the oxidation zone effluent stream to a dimerization zone and contacting the oxidation zone effluent stream with a dimerization catalyst under dimerization conditions to produce a dimerization zone effluent stream comprising 2-butenal;
• passing the dimerization zone effluent stream to a cyclization zone and contacting the dimerization zone effluent stream with a cyclization catalyst under cyclization conditions to form a cyclization zone effluent stream comprising o-methylbenzaldehyde and/or p-methylbenzaldehyde;
• passing the cyclization zone effluent stream to a hydrogenation zone and contacting the cyclization zone effluent stream with a hydrogenation catalyst comprising a first Group VIII metal deposited on a support material to produce a hydrogenation zone effluent comprising a non-equilibrium mixture of o-xylene, p-xylene, and m-xylene;
• passing at least a portion of the p-xylene from the non-equilibrium mixture to a first reaction zone under first reaction conditions to produce a stream comprising terephthalic acid;
• passing the stream comprising terephthalic acid to a second reaction zone under second reaction conditions to produce a stream comprising polyethylene terephthalate;
• using the polyethylene terephthalate from the stream comprising polyethylene terephthalate to generate a new article.