Sustainable Synthesis of Dibutyl Itaconate from Biomass Derived Acid via Esterification Reaction over Hierarchical Zeolite H-BEA Catalysts

Abstract

Abstract The current study concentrates on the synthesis of dibutyl itaconate (DBI) via esterification reaction of itaconic acid (ITA) and n-butanol over the synthesized novel hierarchical zeolite and the parent H-BEA acid catalysts. ITA is among the top platform scaffolds which are derived from biomass. DBI, has numerous industrial applications as, plasticizers, gelation accelerators, lubricants, antirust additives, adhesives, detergent additives etc. In the present study, tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) surfactant is used as a structure directing agent and yeast as an additional modifier to create hierarchical zeolite H-BEA. Several characterization techniques [XRD, SEM-EDX, N2-sorption isotherms, NH3-TPD, FT-IR, solid-state NMR (27Al, 29Si, 1H)] were used to characterise the synthesized hierarchical structure involving both, microporosity and mesoporosity. Under optimal reaction conditions, hierarchical zeolite shows a higher % ITA yield as compared to its counterpart, parent H-BEA zeolite catalyst. This may be attributed to the enhanced physicochemical and catalytic properties of the resulting hierarchical zeolite catalyst.