Efficient synthesis of glycerol carbonate over a commercially available 4A molecular sieve via an integrated vacuum reactive distillation process†

Abstract

Various heterogeneous catalysts have been investigated in the transesterification of glycerol with ethylene carbonate to glycerol carbonate in a batch reactor, and a commercially available 4A molecular sieve exhibited relatively high catalytic performance for its surface strong basic and acidic sites. Further, an integrated vacuum reactive distillation process was developed for the transesterification in the presence of the 4A molecular sieve. The produced ethylene glycol could be efficiently removed from the reaction system to overcome the equilibrium, and excellent glycerol conversion (99%) and glycerol carbonate selectivity (>99%) were obtained under the optimal reaction conditions. The recycling and the scale-up experiments demonstrate the excellent practical potential of the present process, thus providing an efficient reaction process for the preparation of glycerol carbonate.