Layered α-zirconium phosphate: An efficient catalyst for the synthesis of solketal from glycerol

摘要

alpha-zirconium phosphate is widely used as a solid acid catalyst or a catalyst support. In this work, layered crystalline alpha-zirconium phosphates were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method and applied in the synthesis of solketal from acetalization of glycerol with acetone. It was found that ZrP-200 (layered alpha-zirconium phosphate that calcined at 200 degrees C) is highly active and selective among the tested catalysts. ZrP-200 exhibits both high catalytic efficiency (with an 85.7% conversion of glycerol and a 98.6% selectivity of solketal at 50 degrees C and 3.0 h) and excellent stability even under mild condition. A series of characterizations results disclose that the performance of ZrP catalysts depends mainly on its surface density of acid sites.