Novel Esterification of Glycerol Catalysed by Tin Chloride (II): A Recyclable and Less Corrosive Process for Production of Bio-Additives

In this work, a novel process based on use of a SnCl2 center dot 2H(2)O catalyst which is less corrosive, inexpensive, and a water tolerant Lewis acid was employed for synthesis of fuel bio-additives from glycerol. High yields and selectivities were achieved for glycerol esterification with acetic acid under mild reaction conditions. The SnCl2 catalyst showed to be as active as p-toluene sulfonic and sulfuric acid, catalysts commonly used in acid-catalysed esterification reactions. However, its use has significant advantages in comparison to these Bronsted acid catalysts, including lower reactor corrosion and unnecessary neutralization at the end reaction. The SnCl2 catalyst can also be recovered and reused without loss of catalytic activity. Additionally, effects of reaction temperature, HOAc:glycerol molar ratio and catalyst concentration on both selectivity and yield of glycerol acetates were also investigated. The lower corrosiveness, facilitated handling, as well as potential for reuse without activity loss after simple recycle protocols are positive aspects of SnCl2 catalysts.