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Study of structural properties of acid-treated natural sediment and its application as a sustainable catalyst

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Abstract

This paper aims to characterize a natural sediment from Bahía Blanca estuary (Argentina) as a new clay source and determine the catalytic capacity after its structural modification by an acid activation process. The acid treatment was performed by employing H2SO4 at different concentrations at 353 K and 60 min. The raw material and acid-activated samples were characterized by XRD, XRF, FTIR, N2 physisorption, TGA, SEM, EDX, potentiometric titration and pyridine adsorption monitored by FTIR. Moreover, the catalytic activity on lauric acid esterification with methanol was evaluated as a test reaction. From the structural characterization, it was determined that the material studied contains mainly Ca-montmorillonite, illite, albite and quartz. Likewise, the results obtained showed that the acid-treatment impacts the material characteristics, predominantly surface acidity and textural properties. Particularly, it was evidenced that the samples treated under medium acid activation conditions lead to an increase in acid site number and strength and specific surface area and consequently improve the catalytic activity. The results obtained evidenced that this low cost and widely available raw material presents an interesting mineralogical composition with a high clay mineral content. Additionally, the catalytic performance showed a good conversion in the test reaction regarding other heterogeneous catalysts. Hence, considering these results, this natural sediment merits further research on its purification and application.

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Fig. 1
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Adapted from Gupta et al. (2013)]. a Original 2:1 clay mineral, b interlamellar cations are replaced by hydrated protons, c octahedral metals are leached from the structure, d hydrated silica is formed by the clay structure collapse

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (National Council for Scientific and Technological Research, CONICET, Argentina) and the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (National Agency of Scientific and Technological Promotion, ANPCyT, Argentina)-PICT 2014-3211 for the financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Química, Instituto de Química del Sur (INQUISUR), Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS)- CONICET, CP 8000, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Deborath M. Reinoso

  2. Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Biomédicas del Sur (INBIOSUR), Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS)- CONICET, CP 8000, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Sabrina Angeletti & Patricia M. Cervellini

  3. Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química (PLAPIQUI), Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS)-CONICET, CP 8000, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Diego E. Boldrini

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  1. Deborath M. Reinoso
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Reinoso, D.M., Angeletti, S., Cervellini, P.M. et al. Study of structural properties of acid-treated natural sediment and its application as a sustainable catalyst. Braz. J. Chem. Eng. 37, 679–690 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43153-020-00066-2

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