The present study was focused on the development of a green process for the production of glycerol carbonate (GYC) from glycerol and dimethyl carbonate using a Ti-SBA-15 catalyst. Ti-SBA-15 catalysts with varying Si/Ti ratio were synthesized in-situ using sol gel method and characterized using various chemical and spectroscopic techniques to study the effects of Ti incorporation on surface and catalytic properties of Ti-SBA-15 catalysts. The process parameters were optimized to obtain high glycerol conversion and GYC selectivity. Ti-SBA-15 catalysts with lower Si/Ti ratio demonstrated higher glycerol conversion and GYC selectivity as compared to the catalysts with higher Si/Ti ratio. A regression model was developed to analyze the correlation between reaction parameters and reaction outcomes which suggest that the reaction temperature has the most significant effect on the glycerol conversion and GYC selectivity. A reaction mechanism portraying the role of Ti-SBA-15 in facilitating the formation of GYC was presented. GYC was formed via the formation of O-methoxy carbonyl intermediate and the reaction was catalyzed by the Lewis acidic nature of Ti-SBA-15 catalyst. A kinetic model was proposed based on the results obtained from this study. In addition, reusability study of the production GYC from glycerol using Ti-SBA-15 suggests that the process has the commercialization potential.

本研究的重点是开发使用Ti-SBA-15催化剂由甘油和碳酸二甲酯生产碳酸甘油酯（GYC）的绿色工艺。原位合成具有不同Si / Ti比的Ti-SBA-15催化剂使用溶胶凝胶法，并使用各种化学和光谱技术对其进行表征，以研究掺入钛对Ti-SBA-15催化剂的表面和催化性能的影响。优化工艺参数以获得高甘油转化率和GYC选择性。与具有较高Si / Ti比率的催化剂相比，具有较低Si / Ti比率的Ti-SBA-15催化剂表现出较高的甘油转化率和GYC选择性。建立了回归模型以分析反应参数与反应结果之间的相关性，这表明反应温度对甘油转化率和GYC选择性影响最大。提出了反映Ti-SBA-15在促进GYC形成中的作用的反应机理。通过形成O-甲氧基羰基中间体形成GYC，并且该反应由Ti-SBA-15催化剂的路易斯酸性性质催化。根据从这项研究中获得的结果，提出了一个动力学模型。此外，使用Ti-SBA-15对甘油生产GYC的可重用性研究表明，该工艺具有商业化潜力。