Study of solid acid catalysis for the hydration of alfa-pinene

MARIA C. AVILA; NORA A. COMELLI; E. RODRIGUEZ-CASTELLON; A. JIMENEZ-LOPEZ; R. CARRIZO FLORES; E. N. PONZI; M. I. PONZI

JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR CATALYSIS A-CHEMICAL

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2010 vol. 322 p. 106 - 112

1381-1169

The hydration of -pinene using solid acid catalysts was studied. The catalysts were prepared by impregnatingtrichloroacetic acid (TCA) on different supports such as silica, titania and zirconia (TCA/SiO2,TCA/TiO2 and TCA/ZrO2·nH2O, respectively). The TCA/TiO2 catalyst converted -pinene into hydrocarbons,while the TCA/ZrO2·nH2Ocatalyst was active and selective for producing alcohols, with a conversionof 57% and a selectivity of 75% of total alcohols, and showed 57% selectivity for -terpineol. The TCA/SiO2sample did not show catalytic activity due to the elimination of the trichloroacetic acid during the preparationstep of the catalyst. An additional stability study was performed with the TCA/ZrO2·nH2O sample.The presence of TCA in the different impregnated samples was studied using FT-IR, and the TCA contentwas determined by thermogravimetric analysis. The surface content of TCA in fresh and used catalystswas studied with XPS, and the textural properties and crystalline structures were analysed by BET andXRD, respectively. Additionally, the nature of the acid centres was characterised by pyridine adsorptioncoupled with FT-IR, and the acidity was determined by potentiometric titration.© 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved