Yttrium-grafted mesostructured SBA-3 catalyst for the transesterification of glycerol with methyl acetate to synthesize fuel oxygenates

• Di- and triacetyl glycerol were obtained via glycerol transesterification.
• Yttrium grafted into SBA-3 framework catalyzed the complete conversion of glycerol.
• At 110 °C, 96% of combined selectivity to di- and triacetyl glycerol was obtained.
• Catalyst surface acidity plays a prominent role in promoting the catalytic activity.

The synthesis of di- and triacetyl glycerol (DAG and TAG) via the transesterification of glycerol with methyl acetate was investigated over series of solid acid catalysts prepared by grafting yttrium, 1–3.5 wt.%, into the framework of SBA-3 support. The prepared catalysts were characterized for their intrinsic physicochemical and textural properties using BET surface area, surface acidity, XRD, SAXS, FT-IR, TEM, SEM and EDX. The catalyst 3%Y/SBA-3 exhibited superior catalytic performance achieving complete glycerol conversion with corresponding selectivity of 32% and 64% toward DAG and TAG. The best reaction conditions are: molar ratio of glycerol to methyl acetate of 1:12, reaction temperature of 110 °C and reaction time of 3 h. The effect of different operational parameters such as reaction temperature, the molar ratio of glycerol to methyl acetate, catalyst weight and reaction time on the transesterification reaction was investigated. The stability of the catalytic activity was examined via leaching and reusability tests through four consecutive batch runs.

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