ACID FUNCTIONALIZED CARBONS AS CATALYST FOR THE GLYCEROL ETHERIFICATION WITH BENZYL ALCOHOL

MARÍA E. CHIOSSO; ILEANA D. LICK; MÓNICA L. CASELLA; ANDREA B. MERLO

BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

BRAZILIAN SOC CHEMICAL ENG

Lugar: San Pablo; Año: 2020 p. 129 - 137

0104-6632

In this paper, the catalytic behaviour of two different carbonaceous systems, commercial carbon (Cc) and synthetic carbon (Cs) functionalized with concentrated sulfuric acid (-SO3H) and with reduced aryl diazonium salt (-PhSO3H), was studied in the etherification of glycerol (Gly) with benzyl alcohol (BA). The catalytic activity and selectivity were studied varying the catalyst percentage (5, 10 and 15 wt%) and the initial reactant mass ratio. Taking into account the results obtained, the experimental conditions selected to continue with the catalytic studies were: temperature 393 K, Gly:BA molar ratio 3:1 and a catalyst loading of 10 wt%. Mono- and diethers were the main products. For the Cc-based catalysts, higher conversion (66%) and selectivity (90%) were obtained with the most acidic system, Cc-PhSO3H. Changing the carbon functionalization method (-PhSO3H for ?SO3H groups) produced a considerable increase in glycerol conversion (from 23 to 66%) and in selectivity to ME + DE (from 62 to 90%). On the other hand, for both Cs-based systems a great increase in performance was obtained, about 95% conversion after 360 min of reaction. Monoether was the major product of the reaction with a selectivity of 79% for Cs?SO3H and 87% for Cs-PhSO3H, which was maintained with reuse.