Synthesis of dimethyl carbonate by transesterification reaction using ceria-zinc oxide catalysts prepared with different chelating agents

This paper reports the use of novel ceria-zinc catalyst for the preparation of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) using transesterification of PC with methanol. Ceria-zinc oxide catalysts were prepared by a sol-gel method using citric acid, oxalic acid and tartaric acid as chelating agents (named as CZC, CZO, and CZT, respectively). The synthesized catalysts were characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, FTIR, SEM-EDX, ICP-OES, and CO2-temperature program desorption. Experimental results revealed that the catalytic performance of CZC was closely related to the surface area and presence of basic sites in the catalyst. CZC showed high selectivity and PC conversion. Effects of operating parameters such as methanol/PC molar ratio, catalyst dose, reaction temperature, reaction time were studied. The reusability of CZC as a catalyst for DMC selectivity and PC conversion with turn-over frequency (TOF) was also studied.