Abstract
Butyl butyrate can be synthesised from 1-butanol through two steps; that are, 1-butanol dehydrogenation to butanal over basic sites and metal sites, and then the butanal Tishchenko reaction-type self-esterification of butanal, forming butyl butyrate over an acid site and a basic site. The 1-butanol conversion to butyl butyrate requires a catalyst that has the combination of an acid site, a basic site and a metal site. In this work, the activity of reduced Cu0.3Mg1.7AlO towards the production of butyl butyrate was studied in a PARR reactor at 300 ?C for 4 h. The liquid samples were analysed using a Pegasus LECO GC-TOF/MS. The gas samples were analysed using a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionized detector (GC-FID). The catalysts were characterised using powder-XRD, BET, TPD-CO2, TPD-NH3 and XRF techniques. The results indicated that the non-catalytic case gave 28.6 % 1-butanol conversion, and butyl butyrate was not found. In contrast, the reduced Cu0.3Mg1.7AlO gave 29.6 % 1-butanol conversion. The relative yield of butyl butyrate over the reduced Cu0.3Mg1.7AlO was enhanced to 74.0 % because the metallic Cu and basic sites promoted the dehydrogenation of 1-butanol, acid and basic sites promoted the Tishchenko reaction-type self-esterification of butanal to butyl butyrate.
