Heteropolyacids immobilized on silica as catalysts for esterification reaction of levulinic acid with ethanol.

G. PASQUALE; K. IGAL; G. ROMANELLI; P. VÁZQUEZ; G. BARONETTI

Málaga

Congreso; First International Congress on Catalysis for Biorefineries (CatBior); 2011

SEC

Wells-Dawson heteropolyacid (HPA) was immobilized by sol–gel technique on silica for the first time and these catalysts were used in the esterification of levulinic acid with ethanol, at 78 ºC to obtain ethyl levulinate. The synthesis of HPAs silica-included was satisfactory and the samples kept intact their HPA structure after synthesis. The catalytic tests for the esterification reaction between levulinic acid and ethanol to produce ethyl levulinate have shown that the silica-included Wells-Dawson HPA would be active and selective catalysts for this reaction. It must be noted that silica-included HPA also kept their structure and catalytic activity after two consecutive reaction cycles. These results indicated that these solid acids are promissory catalysts for esterification of levulinic acid in heterogeneous reaction conditions.