Process optimization with acid functionalised activated carbon derived from corncob for production of 4-hydroxymethyl-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane and 5-hydroxy-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane

Abstract

In this article, a two-step activated carbon preparation technique from corncob has been elucidated. The derived catalysts AAC-CC has been characterized using various techniques for the determination of their structural properties and compared with AC-CC, already reported with another article. The conjugated boat structure of AAC-CC resulted in a very high surface area (779.8 m2/g) and high pore volume (0.428 cc/g). This unveils the suitability of AAC-CC as better among the two catalytic pathways for solketal production. The activated carbons so prepared have been used for the valorization of glycerol to produce 2,2-Dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane-4-methanol (solketal), oxygenated additives to fuel. The face-centered composite design (FCCD) of RSM was applied for the optimization of the reaction parameters for the ketalisation reaction using AAC-CC as a catalyst. From the optimized results, the acidic catalyst AAC-CC resulted in a glycerol conversion, i.e. 80.3% 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.

Performance and stability of ether-free high temperature proton exchange membranes with tunable pendent imidazolium groups

“…51–54 Two signals of O 1s originating from CO in the isatin group and a trace amount of C–OH appear at 532.1 eV and 534.0 eV. 55,56 After being treated with 85 wt% PA at 160 °C for 200 h, obvious changes in the XPS spectra are observed as shown in Fig. 9 and Table 2.…”

Sustainable Approach for the Production of Green Fuel Additives

“…In some of the reports, improved product yields were achieved over Lewis acid groups such as Zr, Fe, Ti, Zn, Sn, Mo, W, etc. functionalized solid acid catalysts. − However, such improvements are also not satisfactory due to the poor product selectivity of the targeted products 1,3-dioxane and 1,3-dioxolane, which indicates that there is much scope in catalyst/process development. It is well known that the porosity of the solid acid catalyst is an important factor that governs the various aspects of the reaction study, such as (i) facilitating the accessibility of the reactant molecules to the acid sites, (ii) facilitating the selectivity of bulky product molecules (ordered mesoporosity), and (ii) promoting the facile diffusion of reactants and products.…”