Ordered WOx/mesoporous SnO2 catalysts with excellent acetalization performance for producing bio-additives from glycerol

Highly ordered WOx/mesoporous SnO2 (WOx/meso-SnO2) catalysts with varying WOx loadings of (5 -& nbsp;20) wt% displaying excellent catalytic performance were demonstrated in the acetalization of glycerol with acetone. The synthesized catalysts were analyzed using various techniques including X-ray diffraction, N-2-isotherm, electron microscopy, H-2 temperature programmed reduction, raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. For the acetalization of glycerol with acetone, the most active catalyst was found to be WOx/meso-SnO2 with 20 wt% WOx, and the maximum conversion of glycerol (100%) was obtained after 2 h at 20 ?, providing 97.4% selectivity (97.4% yield) for the five-membered product (solketal), due to the presence of a large number of acidic sites on the surface of the catalyst. The catalytic activity of 20 wt% WOx/meso-SnO2 was also studied in a flow reactor. Tests were carried out at 30 ?, acetone/glycerol=30, WHSV=(4 or 8) h(-1), and atmospheric pressure for 24 h. The catalytic results showed that, when the WHSV was 4 h(-1), after 24 h of time-on-stream, both the glycerol conversion of (100 to 97.9)% and solketal yield of (97.5 to 93.6)% slightly decreased. This result suggests the potential of the 20 wt% WOx/meso-SnO2 catalyst for the industrial acetalization of glycerol.