Acetone cataluminescence as an indicator for evaluation of heterogeneous base catalysts in biodiesel production

Rapid and effective evaluation techniques for heterogeneous base catalysts in biodiesel production are highly desirable with increased global demand for biofuels. In this work, we have discovered direct connections between the number of medium-strength basic sites of heterogeneous base catalysts in biodiesel production and cataluminescence intensity in acetone aldol condensation reactions. Accordingly, acetone cataluminescence has been employed as an indicator for rapid evaluation of heterogeneous base catalysts in biodiesel production. Its practical feasibility has been first established using commercially available heterogeneous base catalysts in biodiesel production (including MgO, Al2O3, TiO2, and ZnO), indicating a good matching between the proposed cataluminescence screening method and routine temperature-programmed desorption measurements. Subsequently, the proposed cataluminescence method can be used to effectively distinguish a set of layered double hydroxides and layered double oxide with fewer differences of basic sites, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) of the proposed method is 2.90%. The developed cataluminescence platform is able to take advantage of low cost, simple configuration, fast response, long-term stability, and easy operation. This work has a great potential in distinguishing weak/strong basic sites and even acidic sites of each catalyst system by tuning molecular probes.