Catalytic Gas-Phase Production of Lactide from Renewable Alkyl Lactates

A new route to lactide, which is a key building block of the bioplastic polylactic acid, is proposed involving a continuous catalytic gas-phase transesterification of renewable alkyl lactates in a scalable fixed-bed setup. Supported TiO2/SiO2 catalysts are highly selective to lactide, with only minimal lactide racemization. The solvent-free process allows for easy product separation and recycling of unconverted alkyl lactates and recyclable lactyl intermediates. The catalytic activity of TiO2/SiO2 catalysts was strongly correlated to their optical properties by DR UV/Vis spectroscopy. Catalysts with high band-gap energy of the supported TiO2 phase, indicative of a high surface spreading of isolated Ti centers, show the highest turnover frequency per Ti site.