Sugarcane bagasse, a next generation biomass derived catalytic material for synthesis of biofuel additives, levulinate esters: Process optimization and kinetic investigation

The present article is fascinated towards fabrication of solid acid catalyst from waste sugarcane bagasse. The bagasse-based catalyst was characterized by SEM-EDS, TGA-DTG, FTIR, UV-Vis-NIR, N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms, XRD, along with acidity measurement using NH₃-TPD analysis. The catalytic application of bagasse derived catalyst was evolved by performing esterification of levulinic acid, a bio platform molecule with n-butanol to synthesize n-butyl levulinate. The best output, 53 % conversion of levulinic acid and 93 % selectivity of n-butyl levulinate was achieved at relatively milder conditions such as 1:2 mole ratio of acid to alcohol, 25 mg catalyst, 8 h and 90°C. The reaction follows second order kinetics with an activation energy of 112 kJ/mol. Sustainability of catalyst was determined by recycling experiments and the obtained results show stability of catalyst up to three consecutive cycles. The versatile nature of catalyst was examined by performing substrate study with varied substrates including different C1-C7 alcohols and some bio-based diacids.