Production of bioadditives from glycerol esterification over zirconia supported heteropolyacids.

The synthesis of bioadditives for biofuels from glycerol esterification with acetic acid was performed over zirconia supported heteropolyacids catalysts using H(4)SiW(12)O(40) (HSiW), H(3)PW(12)O(40) (HPW) and H(3)PMo(12)O(40) (HPMo) as active compounds. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized by N(2)-physisorption, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, NH(3)-TPD, FTIR of pyridine adsorption and H(2)O-TPD. Among the catalysts tested, HSiW/ZrO(2) achieved the best catalytic performance owing to the better combination of surface Brønsted acid sites and hydrothermal stability. A 93.6% combined selectivity of glyceryl diacetate and glyceryl triacetate with complete glycerol conversion was obtained at 120°C and 4h of reaction time in the presence of HSiW/ZrO(2). This catalyst also presented consistent activity for four consecutive reaction cycles, while HPW/ZrO(2) and HPMo/ZrO(2) exhibited distinct deactivation after reusability tests. In addition, HSiW/ZrO(2) can be resistant to the impurities present in bulk glycerol.

Simultaneous enzymatic synthesis of FAME and triacetyl glycerol from triglycerides and methyl acetate.

In the presence of methyl acetate triglycerides such as vegetable oils are transformed simultaneously into the corresponding fatty acid methyl esters and triacetyl glycerol (triacetin). The reaction, catalyzed by lipases, was studied as a function of some critical parameters, such as type of catalyst, enzyme hydration and immobilization support. The aim of the work was to achieve a conversion of the triglyceride as high as possible and to maximize the yield of the triacetin, the reaction end point. It was found that by using the immobilized lipase from Candida antarctica yields as high as 80% of both fatty acid esters and triacetin could be achieved. These results were obtained by carefully controlling the amount of water present in the reaction medium and the hydration level of the enzyme macromolecule.