Solid acid catalyzed glucose conversion to ethyl levulinate

A series of solid acid catalysts including SO 4 2− /ZrO 2 , SO 4 2− /TiO 2 , SO 4 2− /ZrO 2 –TiO 2 and SO 4 2− /ZrO 2 –Al 2 O 3 were prepared by precipitation and impregnation method for ethyl levulinate production from glucose in ethanol. Effects of various reaction parameters and catalyst reuse cycle towards the reaction performance were studied. Experimental results showed that different components of the sulfated metal oxides had markedly different catalytic effects on the ethanolysis of glucose. SO 4 2− /ZrO 2 –Al 2 O 3 could significantly suppress the formation of ethyl levulinate due to the incorporation of Al 2 O 3 . With SO 4 2− /ZrO 2 as the catalyst, an optimized ethyl levulinate yield of above 30   mol% was obtained at 200   °C for 3   h with catalyst dosage of 2.5   wt%, and the recovered catalyst after calcination was found to remain active with an almost unchanged product yield after being reused five times. The main liquid substances including ethyl levulinate, diethyl ether and ethanol can be easily separated from the resulting product mixture by fractionation and the excess ethanol was recycled. The physicochemical properties of the prepared and thermally regenerated catalysts were characterized using BET surface area, XRD, NH 3 -TPD and XPS techniques.