Production of glycerol carbonate using a novel Ti-SBA-15 catalyst

The present study was focused on the development of a green process for the production of glycerol carbonate (GYC) from glycerol and dimethyl carbonate using a Ti-SBA-15 catalyst. Ti-SBA-15 catalysts with varying Si/Ti ratio were synthesized in-situ using sol gel method and characterized using various chemical and spectroscopic techniques to study the effects of Ti incorporation on surface and catalytic properties of Ti-SBA-15 catalysts. The process parameters were optimized to obtain high glycerol conversion and GYC selectivity. Ti-SBA-15 catalysts with lower Si/Ti ratio demonstrated higher glycerol conversion and GYC selectivity as compared to the catalysts with higher Si/Ti ratio. A regression model was developed to analyze the correlation between reaction parameters and reaction outcomes which suggest that the reaction temperature has the most significant effect on the glycerol conversion and GYC selectivity. A reaction mechanism portraying the role of Ti-SBA-15 in facilitating the formation of GYC was presented. GYC was formed via the formation of O-methoxy carbonyl intermediate and the reaction was catalyzed by the Lewis acidic nature of Ti-SBA-15 catalyst. A kinetic model was proposed based on the results obtained from this study. In addition, reusability study of the production GYC from glycerol using Ti-SBA-15 suggests that the process has the commercialization potential.