Continuous synthesis of ethyl levulinate over Cerium exchanged phosphotungstic acid anchored on commercially silica gel pellets catalyst

Cerium salt of phosphotungstic acid (CeTPA) supported on commercially silica gel pellets (SGP) catalysts were prepared for continuous synthesis of ethyl levulinate in a fixed-bed reactor. The characterization of the catalysts obtained from N-2 sorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and temperature-programmed desorption of NH3 (NH3-TPD) revealed that the heteropolyacid salts basically kept its Keggin structure and Ce was present in the presence of Ce3+ on the catalyst, the catalytic activity are related to acidity and the dispersion of CeTPA on SGP. The catalyst with 30% CeTPA/SGP showed high catalytic activity with about 98.5% levulinic acid conversion and 99.5% selectivity for ethyl levulinate for 50 h of Time on stream at the optimum conditions. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.