Synthesis of glycerol carbonate from glycerol and dimethyl carbonate over CaO-SBA-15 catalyst

Recently, transformation of glycerol from biodiesel industry into high value-added fine chemicals has attracted a growing attention in the viewpoint of sustainable development. Various mesoporous CaO-SBA-15 solid bases were obtained by a one-pot route and used as catalysts for glycerol carbonate (GC) synthesis via the transesterification of glycerol (GL) with dimethyl carbonate (DMC). The physicochemical properties of these samples were systematically investigated with different characterization methods to disclose the structure-activity relationships of CaO-SBA-15 for GC synthesis. 0.3CaO-SBA-15 sample with Ca/Si molar ratio of 0.3 was found to be the most active catalyst with the highest GC yield of 99.0% at its optimal conditions, and no any decrease in GC yield could be observed even after 5 cycles. The presence of the strong interaction between CaO and SBA-15 is responsible for the excellent catalytic performance over CaO-SBA-15, which can enhance the dispersion of CaO on SBA-15 and provide more reactive sites for this reaction.