Catalytic etherification of bioglycerol with C4 fraction

• Five C4 fractions were used as source of isobutylene for glycerol etherification.
• C4 fraction should contain at least 40 wt% of isobutylene.
• Results obtained with crude glycerol was similar to p.a. grade glycerol.
• Best results were obtained with ion exchange resin Amberlyst 35 dry.

The aim of this work was to study possibilities of glycerol ethers preparation from glycerol and isobutylene by using industrially common resources. Therefore C4 petrochemical fraction without 1,3-butadiene with different concentration of isobutylene has been used as alkylation agent for etherification of pure glycerol and also glycerol from FAME production. It has been proved that using of C4 fractions with concentration of isobutylene over 40 wt% it is possible to obtain similar results in comparison with pure isobutylene. Over catalyst Amberlyst 35 dry the selectivity to higher ethers was 63.9% at the conversion of glycerol 59.1%. When bio-glycerol was etherified with this C4 fraction over the same catalyst the obtained results were similar. The reusability test of Amberlyst 35 when the pure glycerol was used showed moderate decrease of glycerol conversion and selectivity to higher ethers. The same test with bio-glycerol showed significant decrease of glycerol conversion and selectivity to higher ethers after third run.

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