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Esterification of Levulinic Acid to n-Butyl Levulinate Over Various Acidic Zeolites

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Abstract

Levulinic acid (LA) has been recognized as a versatile building block for the synthesis of various organic chemicals as it contains ketone and carboxylic functional groups. Levulinate esters are important chemical feedstocks having potential applications either in flavouring and fragrance industries or biodiesel as blending component. The present work focuses on the synthesis of n-butyl levulinate by esterification of LA with n-butanol using various small and large pore zeolites. The preferential order to yield n-butyl levulinate was found to be: H-BEA > H-Y > H-ZSM-5 > H-MOR. Further, a study for optimizing the reaction conditions such as acid to n-butanol molar ratio, reaction time and catalyst concentration has been described. Under optimized reaction conditions, zeolite H-BEA has been found as most efficient catalyst with 82.2 % LA conversion and 100 % selectivity of n-butyl levulinate.

Graphical Abstract

Scheme: Zeolite catalyzed esterification of levulinic acid

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Acknowledgments

Authors thank Canadian Research Chair Program, NSERC, for financial support. Authors would also like to thank Sud-Chemie India Pvt. Ltd., Vadodara, Gujarat, India, for providing samples of zeolites.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Chemistry Department, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, 395 007, Gujarat, India

    Kalpana C. Maheria

  2. Faculty of Science and Engineering, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Janusz Kozinski

  3. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5A9, Canada

    Kalpana C. Maheria & Ajay Dalai

Authors
  1. Kalpana C. Maheria
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  2. Janusz Kozinski
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  3. Ajay Dalai
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Correspondence to Ajay Dalai.

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Maheria, K.C., Kozinski, J. & Dalai, A. Esterification of Levulinic Acid to n-Butyl Levulinate Over Various Acidic Zeolites. Catal Lett 143, 1220–1225 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-013-1041-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-013-1041-3

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