Bendaoud Nohair

Highly Efficient Glycerol Acetalization over Supported Heteropoly Acid Catalysts

The acetalization of glycerol with acetone to yield solketal was catalyzed by Cs2.5H0.5PW12O40 (Cs2.5) supported on mesoporous silica under mild conditions. It gave a high glycerol conversion and selectivity to the targeted product even at room temperature (23 °C). We studied the use of both bulk and supported Cs2.5 as catalysts in another highly efficient glycerol acetalization reaction with paraformaldehyde, which gave much higher activity than with formaldehyde solution. For the reaction with acetone, the supported Cs2.5 showed a higher activity than the bulk material because of the high surface area of the mesoporous support. Interestingly, the supported Cs2.5 gave a lower conversion than the bulk for the reaction with paraformaldehyde. This is probably because of the high viscosity of the reaction system with the solid reagent paraformaldehyde. Overall, there is a complex relationship between catalyst, reaction conditions, which include the molar ratio of reactants and temperature, reaction mechanism and thermodynamics that affects the achieved activity and byproduct formation. A discussion about these interactions is included for each reaction.

A Parametric Study of Biodiesel Production Under Ultrasounds

Abstract Biodiesel, a vegetable oil-derived fuel, can be used as a partial or complete substitute to diesel oil. The main argument for its usage in internal combustion engines is its net CO2 balance which is considerably reduced compared to diesel fuel of fossil origin. A systematic study of ultrasound continuous biodiesel production using canola oil was conducted in the presence of methanol and sodium methoxide as catalyst. Effects of various reaction parameters such as residence time, catalyst concentration, reaction temperature, ultrasounds amplitude and power, methanol/oil molar ratio were analyzed. Fatty acid methyl esters were produced rapidly by using ultrasound assisted transesterification. In typical conditions (35 °C) conversion to FAME higher than 80 % could be reached at residence time as low as 20 s. The parametric study allowed to establish that the effect of ultrasound wave on transesterification reaction rate is localized in a very small volume surrounding the sonotrode tip. This unprecedented conclusion has significant consequences for the design of the large scale continuous flow biodiesel production reactor.