Process Optimization with Acid Functionalised Activated Carbon derived from Corncob for Production of 4-Hydroxymethyl-2,2-Dimethyl-1,3-Dioxolane and5-Hydroxy-2,2-Dimethyl-1,3-Dioxane

Abstract

This study focuses on the application of the corncob derived base (NaOH) activated and acid (H2SO4) functionalized carbons for the glycerol valorization to produce 2,2-Dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane-4-methanol (solketal), an oxygenated additive to fuel. The two derived catalysts viz., AAC-CC and AC-CC were subjected to various techniques for the determination of their structural properties and their comparison is made on the basis of characteristics and conversion into the final product. The conjugated boat structure of AAC-CC resulted very high surface area (779.8 m2/g) and higher pore volume (0.428cc/g) of AAC-CC that unveil its suitability as better among the two catalytic pathways during the solketal production. The acidic catalyst shows the highest catalytic activity as compared to basic due to the availability of the more active sites to the catalyst that will help in the reaction for higher conversion. The face cantered composite design (FCCD) of RSM was applied for the optimization of the reaction parameters for the ketalisation reaction. From the optimized results, the acidic catalyst AAC-CC gives higher glycerol conversion, i.e. 80.3% than the basic catalyst AC-CC i.e. 72.12% under the actual laboratory experiment. Moreover, the catalyst could be reused for three consecutive batch reactions without (< 5%) much reduction of activity and no distinctive structural deformity.