(276b) Role of Calcination Temperature on the Hydrotalcite Derived MgO-Al2O3 in Converting Ethanol to Butanol

The projected crude oil depletion along with increased greenhouse gas emissions has created great interest in developing technologies to produce fuels and chemicals from renewable resources. Ethanol can be generated efficiently from renewable resources and it is expected to be in surplus due to the limitation on the utilization of ethanol in the gasoline blends. Ethanol condensation chemistry provides an excellent opportunity to convert ethanol to high value building block compound butanol which can be easily converted to fuel or chemical compound. The conversion of ethanol to butanol occurs via a complex network of reaction over a bifunctional acid base catalytic system. The hydrotalcite [Mg₆Al₂(CO₃)(OH)₁₆•4H₂O] derived MgO-Al₂O₃ mixed oxide catalystis identified asone of the efficient material to convert ethanol to butanol. The catalyst preparation method, catalyst composition and the experimental conditions plays a role in directing the ethanol condensation chemistry. Our experimental results show a good correlation between the catalyst calcination temperature and the catalyst activity to the ethanol condensation reaction. The catalyst characterization results show that the change in acid base properties with respect to the catalyst calcination temperature is responsible for the change in the catalyst activity. In this talk the experimental and catalyst characterization results will be discussed in detail to show the role of calcination temperature on the hydrotalcite derived MgO-Al₂O₃ in converting ethanol to butanol.