Process optimization and kinetics of microwave assisted transesterification of crude glycerol for the production of glycerol carbonate
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-7-2021
Abstract
The production of glycerol carbonate (GC) from industrial grade crude glycerol was catalyzed by calcium oxide (CaO) via microwave assisted transesterification (MAT). Influencing process parameters including reaction temperature, time and molar ratio of dimethyl carbonate/glycerol (DMC/Gly) were examined and optimized by applying Box Behnken Design (BBD). The reaction was modelled into a reduced cubic model with good predictive accuracy. A high GC yield of 99.5% was achieved with 1 wt% CaO at optimized conditions such as reaction temperature of 65 degrees C, reaction time of 3 min and DMC/Gly molar ratio of 2.5. The study performed on the reaction kinetics suggests that the reaction follows an irreversible second order rate equation. A relatively low activation energy of 4.53 kJ mol(-1) was determined for the microwave assisted transesterification of crude glycerol for the production of GC. The values of rate constants between 45 degrees C to 65 degrees C were in the range of 0.023-0.026 L mol(-1) min(-1), which are of one magnitude order higher than that of the conventional heating.
Keywords
Glycerol carbonate, Crude glycerol, Microwave assisted transesterification, Kinetics
Divisions
sch_che
Funders
Universiti Malaya (RP002B-13AET)
Publication Title
Sustainable Energy & Fuels
Volume
5
Issue
1
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
Publisher Location
THOMAS GRAHAM HOUSE, SCIENCE PARK, MILTON RD, CAMBRIDGE CB4 0WF, CAMBS, ENGLAND