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Published on: April 16, 2017
Synthesis of a Zr/Sn/Al-SBA-15 catalyst for the conversion of glucose to lactic acid
Farinaa Md Jamil1,2, Anita Ramli1,2, Lim Jun Wei1,2
1HICoE Centre of Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS Seri Iskandar 32610 Perak Malaysia anita_ramli@utp.edu.my farinaa.jamill@utp.edu.my junwei.lim@utp.edu.my.
Abstract:
This work reports the synthesis and catalytic evaluation of mono- and bimetallic Zr/Sn/Al-SBA-15 catalysts for the chemo-catalytic conversion of glucose to lactic acid. SBA-15 was modified via alumination to enhance Brønsted acidity and subsequently impregnated with varying loadings of zirconium and tin to introduce Lewis acid sites. Comprehensive characterization using BET, XRD, and NH3-TPD confirmed that metal loading significantly influenced the textural and acidic properties of the catalysts. Among the monometallic variants, 2% Sn/Al-SBA-15 exhibited the highest lactic acid yield (4.1%) and glucose conversion (47.5%) under the screening conditions (200 °C, 5 bar N2, and 3 h). Bimetallic catalysts achieved higher glucose conversions (up to 72.5%) but slightly lower lactic acid yields, likely due to side reactions and catalyst deactivation. Optimization studies identified 210 °C and 50 bar N2 as the optimal conditions, achieving a lactic acid yield of 25.2% with 99.6% glucose conversion. The results highlight the synergistic role of Lewis and Brønsted acid sites in enhancing catalytic performance and demonstrate the potential of Zr/Sn/Al-SBA-15 catalysts for sustainable lactic acid production from biomass-derived glucose.
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