Ethyl levulinate ketalization with glycerol promoted by H, Y-Zeolite: Kinetic analysis in batch and continuous milli-reactor scale
Francesco Taddeo, Riccardo Tesser, Martino Di Serio, Vincenzo Russo
Chemical Engineering and Processing-Process Intensification (2024) 197, 109712
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2024.109712
Abstract
Ketals from levulinic acid are considered emerging compounds which have obtained growing interest in last years. Their possible applications are different, from additives for fuels to plasticizers, polymers and solvents. Ketals can be obtained starting from levulinic acid and its esters. The advantages in using the esters, such as ethyl levulinate, can be found in avoiding the occurrence of the competitive esterification reaction. In this work, the attention was focused on the reaction between ethyl levulinate and glycerol to obtain the five-membered ketal. The reaction was made in the presence of H,Y-zeolite as catalyst investigating the kinetics in batch reactor and in a continuous milli-reactor simulating all the experimental data with a mathematical model. The activation energy was measured both without catalyst (Ea = 104 kJ/mol) and for the catalyzed experiments (Ea = 48 kJ/mol). The reaction showed an endothermic …