Quartz halogen‐ultrasonication integrated rotating reactor for efficient photocatalytic‐thermocatalytic synthesis of glyceryl monocaprin: Kinetics of heterogeneous esterification

Abstract

AbstractA pioneering intensification protocol for glyceryl monocaprin (GMC) synthesis deploying coactive electromagnetic energies,viz. quartz halogen radiation (QHR) and ultrasonication (US) is explored. Concurrently, Amberlyst 15 (A15) and nano‐TiO2 P25 (NT‐P25) were applied to achieve capric acid (CA) conversion of 97% ± 0.5%, employing the integrated QHR‐US energized rotating reactor (QHRUERR), which was 7.5% ± 0.5% higher than QH energized rotating reactor (QHERR) and 20% ± 1% greater compared to an ultrasonically energized rotating reactor (USERR). Optimal factors, viz., 0.35:1 CA:glycerol mole ratio, 343K temperature, 0.67:1 A15:P25(wt./wt.) dose, resulted maximum GMC selectivity (95% ± 0.3%). Langmuir–Hinshelwood model (R2 = .99) could best represent the esterification kinetics in QHRUERR under optimal condition. Significantly, reaction activation energy was found minimum in QHRUERR (9.63 kJ/mol) compared with a rotating reactor equipped either with QHR (27.5 kJ/mol) or the US (32.74 kJ/mol), thus implying promising synergy and energy efficiency of QHRUERR. Ultraviolet‐visible diffuse reflectance spectra and photoluminescence analyses exhibited the photoactivity of ATO (A15 : NT‐P25=0.67: 1 w/w) catalyst possessing lower band gap energy (2.98 eV). The optimal product GMC demonstrated appreciable food preservative attributes toward Aspergillus Niger food pathogen. An energy‐efficient and sustainable reactor could, thus, be explored in this study for proficient green synthesis of valuable food preservatives.