Mingming Fan

Synthesis of novel dicationic basic ionic liquids and its catalytic activities for biodiesel production

Biodiesel produced by transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats is a potential alternative fuel to diesel, given the limited resources of fossil fuel and its environmental concerns. Three novel dicationic basic ionic liquids (DBILs) have been prepared for synthesis of biodiesel from soybean oil. Among them, 1, 2-bis (3-methylimidazolium-1-yl) ethylene imidazolide performed best and the yield of biodiesel reached 99.6%, which was related to the basicity and miscibility properties of the IL.

A novel method to reduce the influence of by-product water on the catalytic performance of PdCl2/Cu-HMS catalysts for the synthesis of diethyl carbonate

A novel method to synthesise diethyl carbonate is introduced by the coupling reaction, the hydrolysis of diethyl ether (DEE) and oxidative carbonylation of ethanol, which reduces the influence of by-product water and satisfies the energy coupling for the reaction system.

The value-added utilization of glycerol for the synthesis of glycerol carbonate catalyzed with a novel porous ZnO catalyst

In the carbonylation reaction, a novel porous ZnO was prepared by a calcination method, and the raw material Zn glycerolate platelets were prepared via the glycerol approach, which could make use of a by-product of glycerol. To elucidate their composition, morphology, and properties, the resulting materials were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, BET, XPS, TPD and TG. The results showed that the catalyst was porous and irregularly shaped with appropriate acid and base properties; moreover, it displayed better catalytic performance for the synthesis of glycerol carbonate. The highest glycerol carbonate yield reached 85.97% of ZnO from zinc glycerolate under the optimal reaction conditions of 5.0 wt% of catalyst, 1 : 1.5 molar ratio of glycerol to urea and reacting at 140 °C for 6 h under 1 kPa. Comparing the three catalysts ZnO, zinc glycerolate and ZnO from zinc glycerolate, the maximum glycerol carbonate yield was 85.97% with the ZnO from zinc glycerolate as the catalyst under optimized operating conditions. Compared with the conventional ZnO, the as-prepared catalyst embodied in its porosity, acidity and basicity. The catalyst maintained excellent catalytic performance after 5 cycles with almost no loss of catalytic activity. This study revealed that ZnO from a zinc glycerolate catalyst is highly active, highly recyclable, remarkably stable, and environmental friendly for industrial applications. Overall, this new material overcomes the limitation of glycerol application and will have a good potential for industrial application.