Glycerol Acetylation with Propionic Acid Using Iron and Cobalt Oxides in Al-MCM-41 Catalysts

Abstract

In this work, Al-MCM-41 molecular sieves were synthesized, containing iron and/or cobalt oxides, impregnated by incipient wetness method, characterized and applied as catalysts in the acetylation reaction of glycerol with propionic acid to produce green glyceryl propionate molecules of high commercial value. According to this, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Fourier Transform Infra Red (FT-IR), adsorption/desorption N2 isotherms, textural analysis, and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis were recorded to evaluate the main characteristics of materials. The presence of Lewis and Brønsted acidic sites and catalysts surface area were observed as important key points to functionalize acetylation reaction. Thus, time reaction, temperature, and glycerol / propionic acid ratio varied to improve the most suitable reaction conditions and behaviors. As a result, glycerol conversion was above 96%, followed by 68% of selectivity to glyceryl monopropionate as well as the formation of glyceryl di- and tri- propionate and a small amount of ethylene glycol dipropionate as an undesired product. Copyright © 2020 BCREC Group. All rights reserved

Effect of Basic Promoters on Porous Supported Alumina Catalysts for Acetins Production

“…Importantly, a NiCo/Al 2 O 3 sample prepared in this study has similar conversion and selectivity within 1h comparing with γ-Al 2 O 3 , but Ni and Co leaching over the course of the reaction deactivated the solid. Particularly, studies on EG reaction using basic promoters added to alumina, for example, CaO and MgO as well as Ni or Co addition to Al-based catalysts with different metal loadings have shown substantially lower activities than the those of the supported catalysts in the present work [53][54][55][56]. This is due to the low water tolerance of the catalysts during the esterification of glycerol causing the deactivation of the solids over the course of the reaction.…”