In Situ-Generated Supported Potassium Lactate: Stable Catalysis for Vapor-Phase Dehydration of Lactic Acid to Acrylic Acid

We have studied unsupported, silica gel-and amorphous silica-alumina-supported catalysts derived from K salts for the vapor-phase dehydration of lactic acid (LA) to acrylic acid (AA). A catalytic study shows that the supported catalysts improve the activity and selectivity for the production of AA and decrease the selectivity for the production of propionic acid (PA). The silica-alumina-supported catalysts remain fairly stable in the catalytic performance during 90 h of reaction. The IR spectroscopic characterization combined with the catalytic study demonstrates that potassium lactate (C3H5KO3) in situ generated from LA and a K salt is an important reaction intermediate for the production of AA and the catalytic stability is associated with the chemical stability of C3H5KO3 and the activity for the regeneration of C3H5KO3 in the catalytic cycle. On silica-alumina, C3H5KO3 is well stabilized and smoothly regenerated during the reaction, leading to the good catalytic stability. This work suggests for the first time that lactate salt acts as the true catalytic active species for the dehydration of LA to AA. We also propose a predominant reaction pathway for the vapor-phase dehydration of LA to AA with K salt catalyst systems.