Green catalytic synthesis of polyglycerol over green carbon

The conventional risks in the production of petrochemical products are higher than that of the bio-based products. Glycerol is the major byproduct of biodiesel industry. Due to the increased environmental awareness and cost effectiveness, we have developed an eco-friendly catalyst for effective utilization of glycerol by converting it into polyglycerol. The heterogeneous catalytic polymerization of glycerol was investigated with the influence of green carbon as a catalyst. The catalyst is characterized by various spectroscopic techniques. The FT-IR analysis of the catalyst reveals the absence of OH group. The XRD analysis reveals that the green carbon synthesized has a modified graphite structure. SEM and EDX analysis gives details of the surface morphology and the percentage of carbon present in the green carbon. Experiments were carried out in a batch reactor containing 1.26 wt% of glycerol, 0.01 wt% of catalysts at 300oC and 3 hr duration which proved to be the optimum conditions for maximum conversion of glycerol. The resultant biocompatible lower molecular weight polyglycerol were characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR and MALDI-TOF techniques. The results obtained reveal the synthesized green carbon as a promising low cost material for the production of polyglycerol.