Synthesis of Glycerol Carbonate by Transesterification of Glycerol with Dimethyl Carbonate over Mg-Al Mixed Oxides Supported on MCM-41

Abstract

The Mg-Al mixed oxides were deposited on the MCM-41 via the coprecipitation followed by thermal decomposition and characterized by many techniques. In the transesterification of glycerol (GL) with dimethyl carbonate (DMC), the resulting supported catalysts exhibited much higher catalytic performance than the pure Mg-Al mixed oxides, which was ascribed to the increased basicity. Under the optimal reaction conditions, the obtained data showed that at DMC/glycerol molar ratio of 3:1, catalyst loading of 0.3 g and reaction temperature of 373 K, the glycerol conversion and glycerol carbonate yield from the process was 98.7 % and 92.5%, respectively.