Bioadditive Synthesis from Glycerol by Esterification Using Catalytic Chitosan Membrane

Abstract

Glycerol is the main by-product in biodiesel production. The increasing production of biodiesel has resulted in significant amount of glycerol deposition. Esterification of glycerol with acetic acid is a kind of method to consume excess glycerol. The valuable chemicals like that bioadditives are produced in this method. Zr(SO4)2·4H2O loaded chitosan catalytic membrane was prepared by the solution casting method and used as catalyst for esterification of glycerol and acetic acid. The reactions were performed in a batch reactor and in a pervaporation catalytic membrane reactor (PVCMR). The structure of the membranes was investigated by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of esterification of acetic acid and glycerol show that the conversion was slightly improved with the Zr(SO4)2·4H2O content in the membrane at a fixed chitosan content. The reaction rate constant increased with increasing acetic acid/glycerol molar ratio, amount of catalyst loading in the catalytic membrane and reaction temperature. Higher conversion values were obtained by PVCMR.