Acetylation of glycerol over bimetallic Ag–Cu doped rice husk silica based biomass catalyst for bio-fuel additives application

Abstract

Acetylation of glycerol with acetic acid was carried out over bimetallic silver and copper deposited rice husk silica-alumina like ecofriendly green catalyst. Bio-additive like mono, di and tri acetyl glycerol synthesis from raw glycerol (one of the main product of biodiesel), which are gaining attention as additives for improving petroleum fuel properties towards biofuel additive development applications. Advantage of using bimetallic catalyst for glycerol acetylation due to possible synergistic effect between the metals and it enhances the catalytic conversion and selectivity compared to single metal catalyst. The prepared catalysts were characterised by XRD, FT-IR and TEM. Silver and copper incorporated RHS (rice husk silica)-alumina catalysts are shown higher activity and selectivity towards diacetin (di acetyl glycerol) and triacetins (tri acetyl glycerol) formation by catalytic acetylation of glycerol. Higher conversion (98 %) and good selectivity (51 %) is achieved.