Development of new catalysts based on metal-organic frameworks for efficient liquid biofuel production -

Abstract

The objective of this research work is to discover a new class of catalysts made of earth abundant, low cost, chemically stable and non-toxic materials that can generate at globally significant rates, efficiencies and scales, emerging biofuels such as butyl butyrate. The thrust of this research project is to understand at a fundamental level the relations between the synthesis, composition, structure and properties of champion materials that confer upon them the capacity to function as efficient esterification catalysts. For this purpose, Zr-based Metal-Organic Frameworks were synthesized and characterized using different techniques such as XRD, BET, SEM and TGA and their acid density was evaluated using back titration. All prepared catalysts were successfully used for the catalysis of the esterification reaction of butyric acid in presence of butanol for the production of butyl butyrate. Catalysts with higher acid density lead to higher conversion rates, and higher catalyst loadings also increased the conversion to butyl butyrate. The UIO-66(COOH)2 catalyst lead to 91percent conversion, very close to the 96percent conversion achieved by the conventional homogeneous liquid catalyst H2SO4. All catalysts were easily separated from the reaction medium, recycled, and efficiently reused as catalysts for new esterification reactions without significant loss in activity. With this knowledge, catalytic conversion rates and efficiencies of materials can be engineered from a laboratory prototype and optimized to a technologically important archetype able to make biodiesels at a globally significant scale.