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A Green Approach for Synthesis of Alkyl Levulinates as a Biofuel component from Biomass derived Levulinic Acid by Mineral Acid

Author: Somwanshi A.R.

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Abstract

Levulinic acid as a versatile and important promising biomass derived platform chemical can be converted into value added chemicals (VAC). As the presence of attractive functionalities in Levulinic acid (LA) i.e., Carbonyl (-CO-) group and (-COOH) group so synthetically it will be useful for the organic transformations process like esterification of levulinic acid to formed alkyl levulinates hydrogenation followed by cyclization to formed GVL. These products can be utilized as a biofuel additive. So, in present work we have synthesized various alkyl levulinates from Levulinic acid via. mineral acid (H2SO4) from lower aliphatic alcohol to higher alcohols like (methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, n-propyl alcohol, n-butyl alcohol, n-pentyl alcohol, n-hexyl alcohol, n-heptyl alcohol and n-octyl alcohol). The structural analysis of levulinates were confirmed by 1H NMR and molecular weight of these derivatives was confirmed by GCMS analysis.

Keywords

Esterification, alkyl levulinates, Value added compounds, biofuel additives, extraction method, higher alcohols

Conclusion

In summary, we have confirmed the esterification of levulinic acid to methyl-, ethyl-, n-propyl- and n-butyl levulinates by reaction with methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, 1-propanol,1-butanol,1-pentanol,1-hexanol and 1-octanol the levulinates can used as biofuel component and its miscible in neat diesel with (5-7%). In synthetic path the separation of product was done by simple extraction process with two solvent and brine solutions. Here we have used ethyl acetate (Ester extracting solvent) and water to remove the excess mineral acid. This esterification reaction of biomass derived levulinic acid is promising and efficient protocol to synthesize the different alkyl levulinates from higher to lower alcohols. Which is having wide application in many other fields.

References

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How to cite this article

Somwanshi A.R. (2023). A Green Approach for Synthesis of Alkyl Levulinates as a Biofuel component from Biomass derived Levulinic Acid by Mineral Acid. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(5a): 587-591.