The effect of acid composition on the preparation of graphene oxide as a catalyst for glycerol acetylation

Abstract

The production of biodiesel from triglycerides containing vegetable oils transesterification provides over 10 wt.% raw glycerol. One of the glycerol utilizations is via its liquid phase acetylation to corresponding acetins. Glycerol acetylation is typically carried out catalytically using acidic catalysts.. This work reported graphene oxide nanoribbons catalysts prepared by modified Hummer's method for glycerol acetylation. The different of volume ratio of sulfuric-phosphoric acid was applied to prepare catalysts. BET, XRD, FTIR and catalytic activity on glycerol acetylation were performed. Acid treatment is significantly affected by the surface area, pore volume and size. The diffraction patterns identify the change of microstructure of MWCNT. The highest glycerol conversion was demonstrated to be 85%, and triacetin selectivity was about 34%.