Studies on role of support metal in glycerol conversion to glycerol carbonate through Mg/MnO2 and Mg/CuO heterogeneous catalyst

Abstract

Glycerol carbonate (GlyC) is desirable compound among numerous value-added products produced from surplus waste glycerol coming from biodiesel industry. Because of its excellent characteristics properties, applications and high cost, it can contribute to economize the biodiesel production cost. In this work, the research on the impact of support on the catalytic activity towards the synthesis of GlyC have been developed. For this purpose, co-precipitation was used to create Mg and transition metals like Cu and Mn based catalysts, which were then used in the transesterification of glycerol (Gly). Comparative research on the catalytic abilities of MgMn2O4 (MMO) and MgCu4O5 (CMO) were conducted. Among CMO and MMO catalysts, MMO achieved the maximum glycerol conversion of 97%, with 94% GlyC yield, while CMO only offered 83% glycerol conversion with 71% GlyC yield. The 4:1 DMC to Gly molar ratio, 90°C reaction temperature, 75 min reaction time, and 5% catalyst loading were the optimal reaction parameters that were most effective for the synthesis of GlyC utilizing MMO catalyst. MMO was more effective than CMO at synthesizing GlyC because it has a strong basic site. With stability through the sixth cycle, the catalyst has a great potential. An industrial application of the catalyst for large scale is possible. The impact of support transition metal on catalytic activity is established by this study.