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Efficient fatty acid esterification using silica supported Brønsted acidic ionic liquid catalyst: Experimental study and DFT modeling

Vafaeezadeh, M ; Sharif University of Technology

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2014.04.001
  3. Abstract:
  4. A task-specific Brønsted acidic ionic liquid (BAIL), 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogensulfate ([BnMIm]HSO4), was prepared and confined onto the high surface area silica gel. The catalyst has shown extraordinary activity in comparison of homogeneous ionic liquid (IL) system for Fischer esterification of fatty acid with ethanol. The ester derivatives were synthesized in high yields and catalyst was easily separated from the reaction mixture by simple filtration. The structure of the catalyst is theoretically modelized to investigate the unusual catalytic activity. Hence, a hydroxylated cage-like nano-cluster, H6Si8O12(OH)2, was selected to mimic the surface of silica gel. The interactions between the IL and this cluster have been studied using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. DFT modeling indicates that the acidity of the supported [BnMIm]HSO4 is higher than the homogeneous BAIL system
  5. Keywords:
  6. Biodiesel ; Density functional theory ; Esterification ; Silica supported Brønsted acidic ionic liquid ; Task-specific ionic liquid ; Catalyst activity ; Esters ; Ionic liquids ; Silica ; Silica gel ; Acidic ionic liquids ; Ester derivatives ; Fatty acid esterifications ; Fischer esterification ; Heterogeneous catalyst ; High surface area ; Reaction mixture ; Task-specific ionic liquids ; Catalyst supports
  7. Source: Chemical Engineering Journal ; Vol. 250 , 2014 , Pages 35-41 ; ISSN: 13858947
  8. URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1385894714004215