Selective dehydration of ethyl lactate into ethyl acrylate over NaY-faujasite

D ehydration of lactic acid and its esters is a promising way for obtaining acrylate monomers. The transformation of 10 % ethyl lactate solution in ethanol into ethyl acrylate over NaY, NaX, NaA and L zeolites has been studied. It has been shown that NaY-faujasite is the most stable catalyst, which provides 100 % conversion of ethyl lactate with 80–90 % selectivity towards ethyl acrylate at 350 ° С and 0.1 MPa under LHSV= 3.4 h –1 for 3 h. It has been found that use of СО 2 as carrier-gas and carrying out the reaction in ethanol steam allows prolonging time of stable work of the catalyst. Possible schemes of ethyl lactate transformations are discussed.