Triacetin production from glycerol using heterogeneous catalysts prepared from peat clay

Abstract

Glycerol, an abundant by-product of biodiesel production, is urgently considered to increase its usage. Triacetin produced from glycerol is an important material, used in polyester, cryogenics, cosmetics and as a biodiesel additive. Using homogeneous catalysts in triacetin production involves high product separation costs. The purpose of this study is to synthesize heterogeneous catalysts based on alumina and silica from peat clay for use in the production of triacetin from glycerol. The conversion of glycerol for triacetin production using such alumina and silica catalysts yielded levels of 82.7% and 87.4%, respectively. These values were greater than the conversion value of 71.2% using a sulfuric acid homogeneous catalyst. An optimum conversion of 91% was obtained at the mole ratio of glycerol to acetic acid of 8.9. The potential heterogeneous catalysts were confirmed by the results of SEM, XRD and BET characterization. Therefore, the production of triacetin using heterogeneous silica catalyst could be an alternative approach in commercial processes which currently using homogeneous catalysts.