Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access
ISSN: 2090-4541
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2090-4541
+44 1300 500008
Jesus Esteban1, Maria Gonzalez-Miquel2 and Miguel Ladero1
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl
The boom of the biodiesel industry has led to a scenario in which a significant surplus of the by-product glycerol (Gly) has
become available resulting in a pronounced drop of its price. For this reason, attention towards its use as a building block
to yield new products has grown significantly. Two examples of these valuable new alternatives are glycerol carbonate (GC)
and solketal (Sk). Owing to the features of GC, it has been put used as a green solvent in the degradation of lignocellulosic
feedstock to fermentable sugars. Sk has been applied as an additive in gasoline and biodiesel. This communication deals with
the reactions of Gly with organic carbonates (dimethyl and ethylene carbonate) to yield GC with a homogeneous reaction
approach and Gly with acetone to yield Sk using sulphonic ion exchange resins heterogeneous catalysts. The influence of the
operating variables (stirring rate, temperature, initial molar ratio of reactants and catalyst load) on the performance of the
process will be assessed. The kinetics of these reactions will be presented together with the influence of the presence of a liquidliquid
biphasic system at the start of the reaction.