Dimethyl carbonate synthesis by transesterification of propylene carbonate with methanol: Comparative assessment of Ce-M (M=Co, Fe, Cu and Zn) catalysts

Abstract

In this work, Ce–M catalysts (M = Co, Fe, Cu and Zn) synthesized by sol-gel method and characterized by various techniques have been evaluated for the transesterification of propylene carbonate (PC) with methanol for dimethyl carbonate (DMC) synthesis in a batch reactor. The catalysts were characterized by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2-sorption analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM-EDX) etc. Total basicity of CeCo, CeCu, CeZn and CeFe catalysts were 0.083, 0.698, 0.424 and 0.492 mmol/g with crystalline sizes found to be 19.4, 18.8, 9.6 and 21.6 nm, respectively. Best performing catalyst CeCu was further used for optimization of operating conditions such as methanol/PC molar ratio, catalysts dose, reaction time, reaction temperature and kinetics study. The reaction rate constant values as obtained using non-linear regression analysis were found to be 0.285, 0.570 1.255 and 1.596 h−1 at 120, 140, 160 and 180 °C, respectively for the CeCu catalyst. Reusability of the catalyst was studied in terms of PC conversion and turn over frequency.