Catalytic performance of cerium-modified ZSM-5 zeolite as a catalyst for the esterification of glycerol with acetic acid

Abstract Esterification of glycerol with acetic acid was carried out over cerium-modified ZSM-5 zeolites to synthesize monoacetin (MA) and diacetin (DA). The modified zeolite catalyst was characterized. The effect of reaction process parameters such as acetic acid to glycerol mole ratio (1–11), reaction temperature (30–120 °C), and catalyst weight (2–8 wt %) on the selectivity of the product was investigated. At 120 °C reaction temperature, 8 wt % catalyst, and 9:1 acetic acid to glycerol mole ratio, about 98.32% conversion of glycerol were obtained. This reaction follows pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics and the activation energy was found to be 63.72 kJ mol −1 .