Obtaining glycerol carbonate and glycols using thermomorphic systems based on glycerol and cyclic organic carbonates: Kinetic studies

Glycerol carbonate has mostly been synthesized by transesterification of glycerol with dimethyl carbonate and ethylene carbonate. We propose to obtain it using propylene and butylene carbonate as co-substrates with Na2CO3 as catalyst, also generating 1,2-propanediol and 1,2-butanediol. The reactants exhibit thermomorphic behavior, so we capitalized on this feature to avoid mass transfer limitations instead of using co-solvents. The kinetics of both reactions were studied, obtaining activation energies and deactivation constants of 67.13 ± 1.82 kJ mol−1 and 0.14 ± 0.02 min−1 for the reaction between glycerol and propylene carbonate and 58.56 ± 1.10 kJ mol−1 and 0.39 ± 0.03 min−1 for the reaction of glycerol with butylene carbonate. © 2018 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry