Production of Furfural-Diethyl-Acetal as Biofuel Additives for Gasoline by Metal Free Porphyrin Photocatalyst Under Visible Light

Abstract

The protocol presents conversion of furfural (FFL) to furfural-diethyl-acetal (FDA), using ionic liquid tangled, sulphonic acid functionalized, porphyrin (ILSAFPc) as a photocatalyst under visible light at ambient conditions. The formation of FDA was achieved by reacting furfural and ethanol (1: 2.2) over ILSAFPc photocatalyst in a home-made photoreactor under 5 W LED light. The product was attained with 92% yield by photocatalytic acetalization in 18 h at room temperature and confirmed by 1H NMR and 13C NMR. The acetal was confirmed by the presence of CH singlet in 1H NMR, at (8.08) ppm and disappearance of CHO proton of the substrate at 18 h. In addition, FDA exhibited as an excellent fuel additive and results presented that both 15 and 20% blending by volume with the gasoline found comparable physicochemical properties including octane number and calorific value. Finally, ILSAFPc displayed reusability for six times under optimized conditions without significant change in the yield and structure.