Martino Di Serio

Selective epoxidation of soybean oil with performic acid catalyzed by acidic ionic exchange resins

Abstract This work studied the epoxidation of soybean oil with aqueous hydrogen peroxide and formic acid, in the presence of acidic ionic exchange resins as catalysts. Amberlyst 16 was found to actively and highly selectively promote this reaction, and it also had good resistance to thermal and physical degradation. These properties also allow this resin to be used in continuous processes. A detailed study was carried out to determine the best operating conditions for the epoxidation of soybean oil in semibatch reactors, and preliminary epoxidation runs were performed in a continuous packed bed tubular reactor.

Synthesis of Monoalkyl Glyceryl Ethers by Ring Opening of Glycidol with Alcohols in the Presence of Lewis Acids

The present work deals with the production of monoalkyl glyceryl ethers (MAGEs) through a new reaction pathway based on the reaction of glycidol and alcohols catalyzed by Lewis acid-based catalysts. Glycidol is quantitatively converted with high selectivity (99 %) into MAGEs under very mild reaction conditions (80 °C and 0.01 mol % catalyst loading) in only 1 h using Al(OTf)3 or Bi(OTf)3 as catalyst. The proposed method enhances the choice of possible green synthetic approaches for the production of value-added products such as MAGEs.

Biodiesel process intensification: the role of the liquid-liquid interface area in the achievement of a complete conversion in few seconds

Abstract Transesterification of vegetable oil with methanol, promoted by alkaline catalysts has been tested in many different reactors and surprisingly the reaction time, in some of these reactors, resulted very short, in the range of few seconds. In particular, by using static mixers, micro-reactors, oscillatory flow reactors, cavitational reactors, microwave reactors or centrifugal contactors, it is possible to obtain high biodiesel yields in a much shorter time than in stirred tank reactors. As the reaction occurs between two immiscible phases, a general conclusion could be that the higher the interface area the shorter the reaction time. In this paper, we will confirm this assumption because, by using a very efficient micro-mixer, followed by a void tube, very high conversions have been obtained in a few seconds of residence time. Another important observation is that passing from 1% to 2% b.w. of KOH catalyst concentration, a very high increase in the conversion is obtained. This means that the final conversion is not due to the chemical equilibrium but to the catalyst deactivation. For describing all the observed phenomena a new biphasic kinetic model based on a reliable mechanism has recently been developed and used here for quantitatively describing the performed runs.

New findings on soybean and methylester epoxidation with alumina as the catalyst

The activity of a commercial alumina, after a preliminary characterization, was investigated in epoxidation with soybean oil with aqueous hydrogen peroxide. Results show that the γ-alumina was an efficient catalyst. The role of the solvent in the epoxidation reaction in the presence of alumina was investigated. A “no-innocent” solvent role was demonstrated. Moreover, the optimization of the methyl oleate epoxidation reaction with alumina was eventually valuated, varying the type of the solvent and concentration of hydrogen peroxide in order to obtain a product with commercial features.

Catalysis for esterification reactions: a key step in the biodiesel production from waste oils

AbstractOne possible method to produce biodiesel from waste oils (characterized by high concentrations of Free Fatty Acids, FFA), is the use of a two step process: an esterification reaction of FFA and a subsequent transesterification reaction with methanol of the whole mixture using a basic catalyst. In this review, we report the most important results and the still open challenges in relation to esterification reactions in the presence of homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysts.

A New Sol‐Gel Ru‐Nb‐Si Mixed‐Oxides Bifunctional Catalyst for the Hydrogenation of Levulinic Acid in Aqueous Phase

A mixed‐oxide nanomaterial with composition (RuO2)0.038(Nb2O5)0.024(SiO2)0.938 was prepared by a one‐pot sol–gel route. The synthesis was entirely performed at room temperature, by using easy‐to‐handle precursors and avoiding the employment of any toxic and/or polluting reactant. One of the samples was synthesised in the presence of a non‐ionic surfactant acting as both pore directing agent and metal complexing agent, obtaining a high‐specific‐surface‐area material characterized by a very good dispersion of the metallic species. In both cases, nanomaterials characterized by a complete reducibility of Ru species were obtained. The reduced nanomaterials acted as effective bifunctional catalysts in the hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ‐valerolactone, performed under mild conditions in the aqueous phase. The catalyst prepared without surfactant showed good stability and no activity loss during all the performed cycles. By contrast, some deactivation phenomena took place with the surfactant‐templated catalyst. These phenomena were ascribed to both the partial surface oxidation and the surface adsorption of LA molecules giving deactivation during the second run.

On the Importance of Choosing the Best Minimization Algorithm for the Determination of Ternary Diffusion Coefficients by the Taylor Dispersion Method

Taylor dispersion method is a common technique for the determination of diffusion coefficients in the case of multicomponent systems. One of the main problems related to the parameter estimation analysis of the collected results is the choice of the best minimization algorithm that allows finding the real minimum of the objective function. Usually, researchers use the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm, averaging the parameters obtained by different estimation analyses. In this paper, some nonlinear minimization algorithms included in MATLAB R2016a have been tested, and the results are compared in terms of best fit on the experimental data collected for sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) + sodium octanoate (SOC) + water system.

Facind the hazards of biphasic, unstable, highly exothermic process: the case of epoxidation of vegetable oils

Facing the Hazard of Biphasic, Unstable, Highly Exothermic Process: the Case of Epoxidation of Vegetable Oils Ernesto Salzano*, Vincenzo Russo, Riccardo Tesser, Martino Di Serio Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Chimica, Ambientale e dei Materiali, Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Via Terracini 28, 40131 Bologna (IT). Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Napoli “Federico II” – Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia 4, I80126 Napoli (IT) ernesto.salzano@irc.cnr.it

Synthesis and properties of α-sulfo carboxyl disodium salt

ABSTRACT The synthesis and properties of α-sulfo carboxyl disodium salt (SCDS) were studied in detail for the first time in this paper. SCDS was synthesized via saponification reaction of fatty acid methyl ester sulfonate sodium (MES). FT-IR was used to characterize the molecular structure of target product. The yield of disodium salt was greater than 98% by two-phase titration. The performance of SCDS was studied and was compared with raw materials MES, conventional anionic surfactant AES and nonionic surfactant AEO9. The result shows SCDS can reduce the surface tension of the solution to 27.89 mN/m at critical micelle concentration (CMC). The wetting ability of SCDS was significantly enhanced with the increase of temperature. The emulsification effect of SCDS on the soybean oil is better than that on the liquid paraffin. Surprisingly, SCDS has a good foamability and foaming stability. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Influence of sulfonic acid group on the performance of castor oil acid based methyl ester ethoxylate sulfonate

ABSTRACT Castor oil acid methyl ester ethoxylate sulfonate (CAMEES) is a new multifunctional anionic-nonionic surfactant with three hydrophilic groups. In this work, CAMEES was synthesized through reaction of castor oil acid methyl ester ethoxylate (CAMEE) with sodium bisulfite in the presence of tert-butyl peroxybenzoate as catalyst and ferric chloride as co-catalyst in solution of water and isopropanol. The sulfonic acid group has an important effect on the physicochemical properties of the surfactant. Compared to CAMEE, CAMEES exhibits better soybean oil emulsification, detergency, foam ability and stability. However, owing to the sulfonic acid group, the wetting ability and paraffin emulsification are more limited. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT