Microwave assisted solketal production by acetalization of glycerol – A byproduct of biodiesel production using functionalized cellulose catalyst

The objective of this study was to prepare carbonaceous catalysts. Taking cellulose as the starting material, functionalization with sulphuric acid done using 1:10 w/v ratio under one pot hydrothermal treatment at 80 °C. catalyst extensively characterized BET, XPS, TGA, SEM, FT-IR, XRD etc. synthesized C-SO3H had a surface area 447 m2g−1, pore radius 30.020 Å and volume 0.157 cc g−1. total acidity 4.56 mmol g−1 sulphonic density 1.31 It used in acetalization glycerol microwave irradiation. Under optimized reaction conditions 1:5 M acetone, loading 7 wt% 70 °C 10 min, solketal conversion found be 97.1%. product NMR, GC–MS that confirmed successful synthesis solketal. showed excellent reusability giving 82.1% 5th cycle.