The Atom-Efficient Production of Glycerol Carbonate Via Transesterification between Dimethyl Carbonate and Glycerol Over Fluorinated Al2o3-Zro2 Solid Solution Catalysts with Suitable Acidic-Basic Property

Abstract

A series of Al2O3-ZrO2-nF solid solution catalysts (n represented the F: Al atomic ratios) was fabricated by addition of varied amounts of (AlF6)3- into the ZrO2 via co-precipitation process. The acidic-basic properties of Al2O3-ZrO2-nF could be tuned by the change of n. The role of acidic-basic sites was investigated for the glycerol carbonate (GLC) production from glycerol and dimethyl carbonate (DMC). Despite that the more basic sample exhibited higher reactivity than the more acidic one, the cooperative effect of acidic-basic pairs enhanced the Al2O3-ZrO2-nF activity strongly. So, Al2O3-ZrO2-1F realized a GLC yield of 91.2% with an equimolar DMC/glycerol ratio, owing to its appropriate acidic-basic property. Meanwhile, the solid solution structure prevented the generation of free Al or F species, assuring the catalyst an excellent stability. Several green parameters including process mass intensity, environmental factor and atom utilization were calculated to confirm the environmental and economic compatibility of the GLC synthesis.

Keywords: glycerol, Transesterification, Glycerol carbonate, ZrO2-based catalyst, Fluorine content