Highly active solid oxide acid catalyst for the synthesis of benzaldehyde glycol acetal

Abstract

A series of composite metal oxide catalysts, namely CeMnTiO, CeCoTiO, and CeFeTiO, were prepared by sol-gel method, and their physicochemical properties were characterized by various techniques, viz. SEM, XRD, XPS, and NH3-TPD. Their desirable acidity and surface area were suitable for the acid-catalyzed acetalization reaction of benzaldehyde (BzH) with ethylene glycol (EG). In particular, CeFeTiO catalyst exhibited superior activity and excellent durability, leading to an acetal yield of 96.8 %, which was in close agreement with the optimal yield (96.95 %) predicted by the response surface methodology (RSM) based on a Box-Behnken design (BBD). Moreover, a kinetic study under the optimal reaction conditions showed that the acetalization reaction was second-order with an active energy (Ea) of 46.65 kJ/mol. Results revealed that CeFeTiO catalyst had high efficiency to surpass conventional Amberlyst catalysts for acetalization reactions.