Catalytic Synthesis of Energy-rich Fuel Additive Levulinate Esters from Levulinic Acid using Modified Ultra-stable Zeolite Y

摘要

In the present investigation, the esterification reaction of levulinic acid with ethanol was performed using sulfuric acid-modified zeolite Y catalyst to synthesize ethyl levulinate. Characterization of zeolite catalysts was performed using SEM-EDS, XRD, and FTIR techniques. The experiments were performed to find the optimum reaction parameters to obtain the maximum yield of 96 % of the product, levulinate ester by varying catalyst concentration (2-12 wt %), levulinic acid to ethanol mole ratio (1 : 1 to 1 : 13), reaction temperature (40 degrees C-100 degrees C). The esterification of levulinic acid with ethanol followed pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics. The activation energy for this reaction was found to be 19.570 KJmol(-1).