Mesoporous Melamine-Formaldehyde Resins as Efficient Heterogeneous Catalysts for Continuous Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonates from Epoxides and Gaseous CO2Show others and affiliations
2020 (English)In: ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, E-ISSN 2168-0485, Vol. 8, no 34, p. 12852-12869Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Herein, we report the application of inexpensive mesoporous melamine-formaldehyde resins (MMFR and MMFR250) obtained by a novel template-free and organosolvent-free hydrothermal method as efficient heterogeneous catalysts for direct synthesis of cyclic carbonates from CO2 and epoxides (epichlorohydrin, butylene oxide, and styrene oxide). The catalytic activities of the melamine resins were attributed to the abundant Lewis basic N-sites capable of activating CO2 molecules. Based on CO2-temperature programmed desorption, the concentrations of surface basic sites for MMFR and MMFR250 were estimated to be 172 and 56 μmol/g, while the activation energies of CO2 desorption (strength of basic sites) were calculated to be 92.1 and 64.5 kJ/mol. We also observed considerable differences in the catalytic activities and stabilities of polymeric catalysts in batch and in continuous-flow mode due to the existence of a synergism between adsorption of CO2 and cyclic carbonates (poison). Our experiments also revealed the important role of catalyst surface chemistry and CO2 partial pressure upon catalyst poisoning. Nevertheless, owing to their unique properties (large specific surface area, large mesoporous, and CO2 basicity), melamine resins presented excellent activities (turnover frequency 207–2147 h–1) and selectivities (>99%) for carbonation of epoxides with CO2 (20 bar initial CO2 or CO2:epoxide mole ratio ∼1.5) under solvent-free and co-catalyst-free conditions at 100–120 °C. Most importantly, these low-cost polymeric catalysts were reusable and demonstrated exceptional stability in a flow reactor (tested up to 13 days of time on stream, weight hourly space velocity 0.26–1.91 h–1) for continuous cyclic carbonate production from gaseous CO2 with different epoxides (conversion 76–100% and selectivity >99%) under industrially relevant conditions (120 °C, 13 bar, solvent-free/co-catalyst-free) confirming their superiority over the previously reported catalytic materials.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Chemical Society (ACS), 2020. Vol. 8, no 34, p. 12852-12869
Keywords [en]
mesoporous melamine-formaldehyde polymers, solid amines, CO2 utilization, cyclic carbonates, activation-deactivation, fixed-bed reactor
National Category
Other Materials Engineering
Research subject
Engineering Materials
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-80916DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c03123ISI: 000567778600015Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85092356817OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-80916DiVA, id: diva2:1470201
Note
Validerad;2020;Nivå 2;2020-09-24 (alebob)
2020-09-242020-09-242025-04-17Bibliographically approved