Untitled

Abstract

Growing global biodiesel production demands valorization of bio-glycerol derived from biodiesel, which is crucial to make bio refinery process economical. Hence, a series of H 2 SO 4 modified sulfonated Montmorillonite K10 catalysts were synthesized, characterized and evaluated for acetylation of bio-glycerol with acetic acid to produce mono acetin (MAG), di acetin (DAG), tri acetin (TAG) and di-glycerol tri-acetate (DGTA), which are the oxygenated fuel additives and facilitate the economic viability of biodiesel production so the bio refinery. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by compressive suite of characterization techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), low temperature N 2 physisorption, temperature programmed ammonia desorption (TPAD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The glycerol conversion and product distribution results were found to correlate with the acidity and textural properties of the catalyst. 20% (w/w) SO 4 /K10 was revealed to be a promising catalyst for glycerol acetylation with 99% glycerol conversion and with respective yield towards MAG, DAG, TGA and DGTA of 23%, 59%, 15%, and 2%. Moreover, 20% (w/w) SO 4 /K10 catalyst was found to maintain the stable catalytic activity for three reaction cycles. However, the partial catalyst deactivation was observed after third reaction cycle, partly due to deposition of coke and loss of active sites during the reaction.