Nanocasted perovskites as potential catalysts for acetalization of glycerol

Herein, we report on the catalytic activity of ABO₃ perovskites (A = La, Sr or Sn, B = Co, Mn, Sn, Fe, or Al) synthesized by nanocasting using silica-based KIT-6 and SBA-15 as hard templates. The search for less expensive and easy to synthesize active catalysts is gaining momentum due to global financial markets that escalate the prices of precious metals. Interestingly, alternatives that utilize affordable commodities than precious metals have attracted interest. The biodiesel industry is playing a more central part in fuel economy in many developing economies. This work focuses on circumventing the drawbacks of the bio-fuel industry by valorising glycerol, a by-product of biodiesel production into value-added chemicals through the acetalization reaction. The as-synthesized perovskites, with surface areas ranging from 19 to 99 m²/g, showed up to 100% glycerol conversion and selectivity towards 2-methylol-1,4-dioxaspirol [4,5] decane. Perovskites containing tin (Sn) showed better catalytic activity than the rest of the catalysts. The NH₃-TPD results suggest that the greater catalytic activity observed in tin-based perovskites is mainly due to their high acidity content. Furthermore, we showed that the catalyst reusability can be studied in-depth using kinetics and our catalyst showed good stability in the first two cycles.