Synthesis of Phosphate based Magnetic Catalyst for Glycerol Acetylation with Acetic Acid to produce Triacetin

Abstract

The efficient acetylation of glycerol with acetic acid to produce triacetin selectively is achieved using phosphate based magnetic catalyst. The Fe3O4@SiO2-PO43- MNPs were prepared successfully and employed in the glycerol acetylation. As a result, 92.3% selectivity for triacetin was acquired in the presence of catalytic amount of Fe3O4@SiO2-PO43--600 °C catalyst at 80 °C for 80 min, exhibiting higher catalytic activity than that of sulphate based magnetic catalyst. The magnetic catalytic was characterized by XRD, FT-IR and SEM-EDX techniques. Moreover, the effects of reactant ratio, catalyst amount, reaction time and reaction temperature in the glycerol acetylation are studied in detail. Finally, a reusability experiment is also performed indicating low activity of the prepared catalyst after 4 runs of experiment.