Highly efficient synthesis of cyclic carbonate with CO2 under mild condition catalyzed by deep eutectic solvents in a microreactor

Abstract

The development of sustainable catalysts for the conversion of carbon dioxide into value-added chemicals is an effective way to alleviate environmental problems. This study examined the cyclic addition of epoxy propane (PO) and carbon dioxide to propylene carbonate (PC) in a microchannel using a range of imidazol-based deep eutectic ionic liquids (DEILs). By examining the effects of various operating circumstances, such as reaction temperature, operating pressure, residence time, and CO2 to PO molar ratio, the performance of the microreactor was evaluated. According to the findings, the residence time was drastically decreased, going from a few hours in a traditional stirring reactor to just over a minute in a microreactor. The yield of PC could reach 94.23%, and the space-time yield could reach 10.063 g/g/h at 80 °C, 1 MPa, and a residence time of 19 min, while they were 92.32% and 0.406 g/g/h, respectively, for 7 h in a traditional reactor under the same circumstances. It was 24.8 times higher in space-time yield for the microchannel.