Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Continuous Synthesis of Fuel Additives Alkyl Levulinates via Alcoholysis of Furfuryl Alcohol over Silica Supported Metal Oxides

  • Published:
Catalysis Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Aiming at synthesizing alkyl levulinates via alcoholysis of furfuryl alcohol in continuous mode for the first time an attempt is made using cheapest and eco-friendly solid acid catalysts. Different silica supported solid acid catalysts containing the oxides of aluminium, tungsten, zirconium and titanium have been prepared. The nature, number and strength of surface acidic sites were evaluated by DRIFT spectroscopy with pyridine adsorption and NH3-TPD and also structural and textural features of the catalysts have been investigated by XRD and BET surface area techniques. Al2O3/SiO2 catalyst exhibited better activity with 100% conversion of furfuryl alcohol and 92.8% selectivity of methyl levulinate, which may be due to more number of surface acidic sites with large number of weak Lewis acidic sites. The catalytic activity of these solid acid catalysts is as follows: Al2O3/SiO2 > ZrO2/SiO2 > WO3/SiO2 > TiO2/SiO2. This is well correlated with the number of surface acidic sites. The stable catalytic activity during the 10 h time-on-stream study confirmed the sturdiness of Al2O3/SiO2 catalyst and also it is active for the selective formation of ethyl, n-propyl, n-butyl levulinates.

Graphical Abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Scheme 1
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ahmad E, Alam MI, Pant KK, Haider MA (2016) Green Chem 18:4804

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Sankar ES, Babu GVR, Reddy CR, Raju BD, Rama Rao KS (2017) J Mol Catal A 426:30

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Climent MJ, Corma A, Iborra S (2014) Green Chem 16:516

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Kobayashi H, Fukuoka A (2013) Green Chem 15:1740

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Climent MJ, Corma A, Iborra S (2011) Green Chem 13:520

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Nagaraja BM, Padmasri AH, David Raju D, Rama Rao KS (2017) J Mol Catal Chem 265:90

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Swamy KK, Reddy CR, Sankar ES, Kumar MR, Rama Rao KS, Raju BD (2017) Catal Lett 147:1278

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Demolis A, Essayem N, Rataboul F (2014) ACS Sustain Chem Eng 2:1338

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Janssen A, Pischinger S, Muether M (2010) SAE Int J Fuels Lubr 3:70

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Clark RH, Groves AP, Morley C, Smith J (2004) Fuel compositions. Patent WO2004035713

  11. Christensen E, Williams A, Paul S, Burton S, McCormick RL (2011) Energy Fuels 25:5422

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Joshi H, Moser BR, Toler J, Smith WF, Walker T (2011) Biomass Bioenergy 35(7):3262

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Ferrer NB, Prats LG, Company CE, Boliart JC (2013) European. Patent EP2540871A1

  14. Leng Y, Wang J, Zhu DR, Ren XQ, Ge HQ, Shen L (2009) Angew Chem Int Ed 121:174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Lange JP, van de Graaf WD, Haan RJ (2009) ChemSusChem 2:437

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Neves P, Antunes MM, Russo PA, Abrantes JP, Lima S, Fernandes A, Pillinger M, Rocha SM, Ribeiro MF, Valente AA (2013) Green Chem 15:3367

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Zhao G, Hu L, Sun Y, Zeng X, Lin L (2014) BioResources 9:2634

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Neves P, Antunes MM, Russo PA, Valente AA (2013) Green Chem 15:3367–3376

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Liu RL, Chen JZ, Huang X, Chen LM (2013) Green Chem 15:2895

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Wang G, Zhang Z, Song L (2014) Green Chem 16:1436

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Car PD, Ciriminna R, Shiju NR, Rothenberg G, Pagliaro M (2014) ChemSusChem 7:835

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Lu B, An S, Song D, Su F, Yang X, Guo Y (2015) Green Chem 17:1767

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Song D, An S, Sun Y, Guo Y (2016) J Catal 333:184

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Rao BS, Kumari PK, Dhanalakshmi D, Lingaiah N (2017) J Mol Catal A 427:80

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Neves P, Lima S, Pillinger M, Rocha SM, Rocha J, Valente AA (2013) Catal Today 76:218

    Google Scholar 

  26. Rajesh B, Subratanath K (2012) Inorg Chim Acta 384:233

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Boreave A, Auroux A, Guimon C (1997) Microporous Mater 11:275

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Reddy CR, Thirupathaiah K, Reddy BA, Devi GS, Rao KSR, Raju BD (2017) Mol Catal 438:224

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Feng P, Xuchen L, Qingshan Z, Zhimin Z, Yan Y, Tizhuang W, Shiwei C (2015) J Mater Chem A 3:4058.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Mija A, Navard P, Peiti C, Babor D, Guigo N (2010) Eur Polym J 46:1380

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Khusnutdinov R, Baiguzina A, Smirnov A, Mukminov R, Dzhemilev U (2007) Russ J Appl Chem 80:1687

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors C.R.R, K.K.S, E.S.S and K.M gratefully thank University Grant Commission, New Delhi, for financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Catalysis and Fine Chemicals, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, 500007, India

    Raji Reddy Chada, Kumara Swamy Koppadi, Siva Sankar Enumula, Murali Kondeboina, Seetha Rama Rao Kamaraju & David Raju Burri

Authors
  1. Raji Reddy Chada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kumara Swamy Koppadi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Siva Sankar Enumula
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Murali Kondeboina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Seetha Rama Rao Kamaraju
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. David Raju Burri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Raju Burri.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chada, R.R., Koppadi, K.S., Enumula, S.S. et al. Continuous Synthesis of Fuel Additives Alkyl Levulinates via Alcoholysis of Furfuryl Alcohol over Silica Supported Metal Oxides. Catal Lett 148, 1731–1738 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-018-2371-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-018-2371-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation