Fabrication of Strong Basic Sites on Cr3+ Doped Reductive Support and Its Catalytic Application for Transesterification

Abstract

Solid strong base catalysts have attracted much attention for their excellent catalytic performance and environmental friendliness due to heterogeneous properties. However, this kind of catalyst usually needs a higher temperature to be activated. Therefore, it is still a challenge to obtain high-activity catalysts at lower fabrication temperatures. In this paper, a reductive catalyst support containing low-valence metal centers (Cr3+) was prepared. Through the redox reaction between the Cr3+ and KNO3, the basic sites can be produced at lower temperatures on the reductive support (Cr-MeIM). Thermogravimetry-mass (TG-MS) spectrometer results showed that the base precursor began to be transformed into basic sites at about a low temperature of 180°C. The solid base catalyst was applied into transesterification between ethylene carbonate (EC) and methanol. By using 0.05 g of catalyst for 3 h at 70°C, we obtained a dimethyl carbonate (DMC) yield of up to 60.9%, which means that the catalyst has high activity.