Dimethyl carbonate synthesis by transesterification of propylene carbonate with methanol: Comparative assessment of Ce-M (M=Co, Fe, Cu and Zn) catalysts

In this work, Ce-M catalysts (M = Co, Fe, Cu and Zn) synthesized by sol-gel method and characterized by various techniques have been evaluated for the transesterification of propylene carbonate (PC) with methanol for dimethyl carbonate (DMC) synthesis in a batch reactor. The catalysts were characterized by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), N-2-sorption analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM-EDX) etc. Total basicity of CeCo, CeCu, CeZn and CeFe catalysts were 0.083, 0.698, 0.424 and 0.492 mmol/g with crystalline sizes found to be 19.4, 18.8, 9.6 and 21.6 nm, respectively. Best performing catalyst CeCu was further used for optimization of operating conditions such as methanol/PC molar ratio, catalysts dose, reaction time, reaction temperature and kinetics study. The reaction rate constant values as obtained using non-linear regression analysis were found to be 0.285, 0.570 1.255 and 1.596 h(-1) at 120, 140, 160 and 180 degrees C, respectively for the CeCu catalyst. Reusability of the catalyst was studied in terms of PC conversion and turn over frequency. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.