Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (PODEn) have been considered as clean and promising diesel fuel additives due to their favorable properties of high oxygen content and high cetane number. In this work, PODEn synthesis from methanol and formaldehyde solution was studied over spherical sulfated zirconia (TSZ), prepared by the hydrothermal method using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) cationic surfactant as a template. The sulfated zirconia prepared by the traditional precipitation method (PSZ) was compared with the spherical sulfated zirconia. The samples were characterized by XRD, BET, SEM, TGA, NH3-TPD, FTIR, Py-IR, XPS and ICP-OES. It was found that the TSZ possessed miro-mesoporous structure with high surface area, spherical particles, more weak and medium acid sites, compared with the PSZ catalyst. The effect of reaction temperature, time, pressure and molar ratio of formaldehyde to methanol on the PODEn synthesis from methanol and formaldehyde solution was investigated. The 62.82% methanol conversion with 17.12% PODE3-6 selectivity was achieved under the optimal reaction conditions. The TSZ exhibited better reusability with an insignificant decrease in methanol conversion. The reason for the slight catalyst deactivation was due to the loss of the partial active sulfate species during the reaction.

Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers synthesis catalyzed by an efficient spherical sulfated zirconia

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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