Glycerol Derivatives as Fuel Additive: Synthesis of Solketal From Glycerol and Acetone With Various Acid Clay Catalysts

摘要

Currently, the huge bulk of glycerol formed during biodiesel production as a by-product offered an abundant and low-cost feedstock. Researchers have shown a growing interest in using glycerol as a sustainable feedstock to produce functional chemicals. In this work, ketalization of glycerol using acetone performed over various acid clay catalysts (montmorillonite, aluminum pillared clay and bentonite) in a batch reactor. Effect of temperature and various catalyst on the solketal yield were observed. Among these heterogeneous clay catalysts at 30°C for 30 min reaction time with acetone/glycerol ratio 2:1 the maximum yield of solketal 60% was attained with aluminium pillared clay catalyst. On the other hand, the solketal yield was 58% with montmorillonite catalyst at 40°C at same other conditions. This method provides an enticing way to convert glycerol to solketal - a green valuable product with possible commercial applications. The solketal obtained could be formulated from renewable resources such as glycerol and acetone extracted from biomass and would like to be a suitable approach for various applications such as fuel additives and in medicine industries.