(465h) Hydrophobic Zeolites for Solketal Production from Crude Glycerol

Functionalizing zeolites (i.e., CBV600 with a SiO2/Al2O3 ratio of 5.2) by organosilanes increase the degree of hydrophobicity. These hydrophobic zeolites can catalyze the solketal production from crude glycerol (i.e., glycerol containing moisture, methanol and salt impurities) and show the higher catalytic activity than the pristine zeolites. Glycerol is an under-utilized by-product from biodiesel industries. The global biodiesel consumption was ~34 billion liters in 2016 and is expected to reach 38 billion liters by 2020 from a rapid growth in fuel and power generation sectors. Hence, a large amount of crude glycerol will be available. Herein, crude glycerol and acetone were used for solketal production at low temperatures of 30-50 ËšC. Glycerol conversion and solketal yield were 84% and 80%, respectively. The physico-chemical characteristics of hydrophobic and pristine zeolites were characterized by N2 physisorption, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and infrared spectroscopy. The obtained characteristics were correlated with glycerol conversion and solketal yield. These results provide an understanding of how these hydrophobic zeolites function and how to tailor their catalytic activities.