CATALYTIC UPGRADING OF LEVULINIC ACID TO ETHYL LEVULINATE USING RE-USABLE SILICA-INCLUDED WELLS-DAWSON HETEROPOLYACID AS CATALYST

G. PASQUALE; DRA. PATRICIA VÁZQUEZ; ROMANELLI, G; BARONETTI GT

Workshop; Networking Day Dibanet; 2012

A stirred batch reactor was loaded with 30 mmol of absolute ethanol, 250 mg of 40WD-S (5 x 10 -4 mmol de WDA/g SiO 2 ) and 2 mmol of LA, T= 78ºC, 10 hs. Reaction was followed by TLC. The catalyst was ltered off and washed twice with ethanol. The ltrate and the washing liquids were concentrated in vacuum. The residue was dissolved in CH 2 Cl 2 , the solution washed with NaHCO 3 5% and water, to separated LA. The organic phase was died with Na 2 SO 4 , the solvent was evaporated, to afford crude ethyl levulinate (EL). The product was identied via mass spectra analysis. Stability tests: WDA silica-included catalysts were tested running three consecutive reactions in the same conditions. After each test, the catalyst was separated from the reaction mixture by ltration, washed, dried under vacuum and reused. No traces of W (analysis by ICP) in the ltrate.