Eterificación de glicerol con alcohol bencílico empleando catalizadores a base de zirconia sulfatada

MARÍA JAWORSKI; DAVID LORENZO; GUILLERMO J. SIRI; MONICA CASELLA; AURORA SANTOS

Bahia Blanca

Congreso; XIX Congreso Argentino de Catálisis, VIII Congreso de Catálisis del Mercosur; 2015

Universidad Nacional del Sur

This paper dealswith the etherification of glycerol (GLY) with benzyl alcohol (BA) employingZrO2 to which different concentrations of sulphuric acid were added (0.05M-Zr,0.5M-Zr, 1M-Zr and 2M-Zr). The aim is to produce mono- (ME) and di- (DE) ethersof benzyl alcohol. With the 0.5M-Zr catalyst, tested at 140°C and a GLY:BA massratio 1:1, the best catalytic performance was obtained, in terms of conversion,selectivity to ME and lower deactivation. When this catalyst was used in thepresence of a solvent (undecane) a lower conversion was obtained, although theselectivity to ME showed a significant increase (77% vs. 41%). Most probably,the undecane solvent solubilizes BA preferably, making its apparentconcentration being lower, and so allowing the system to develop a moreefficient conversion of the reactants.