Production of butyl levulinate through butanolysis of furfuryl alcohol over acidic catalysts

摘要

The current prospective for the alternative energy sources for depleting fossil fuels and deteriorating environment has gained much attention for renewable carbon resource conversion to liquid fuels and fine chemicals.Selective conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to alkyl levulinates is one of the preferable biomass conversion routes because of the versatility of these chemicals which possess high lubricity,a stable flashpoint,and moderate flow properties,thus makes them a suitable gasoline and diesel blends.Among the alkyl levulinates,especially the butyl levulinate(BL),a significant liquid fuel and an additive has the advantages of insolubility in water and an alternative for the methyl tertiary butyl ether(MTBE),a general gasoline additive over other alkyl levulinates.The current study reports the effect of catalyst acidity on the butanolysis of FAL to BL of tungstated zirconia and sulfonated carbon catalysts.Fig.1 illustrates the reaction path of butanolysis of FAL to BL through the reaction intermediate 2-butoxymethylfuran(2-BMF).The protonation of hydroxyl group of FAL molecule by the catalyst to a conjugated FAL molecule and then attack of 1-butanol to form 2-BMF was the first step of FAL conversion.Further conversion of 2-BMF to BL was regarded as the rate determining step as it involves several conjugal transformations to the final product,thus a very slow step.