Department of Chemistry and Biology "Adolfo Zambelli", University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084, Fisciano (SA), Italy.
Department of Industrial Chemistry "Toso Montanari'', University of Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40135, Bologna, Italy.
ChemSusChem. 2017 May 22;10(10):2291-2300. doi: 10.1002/cssc.201700525. Epub 2017 Apr 26.
The disposal of any waste by recovering it within the production plant represents the ultimate goal of every biorefinery. In this scenario, the selective preparation of monoalkyl glyceryl ethers (MAGEs) starting from glycidol, obtained as byproduct in the epichlorohydrin production plant, represents a very promising strategy. Here, we report the synthesis of MAGEs through the reaction of glycidol with alcohols catalyzed by a green homogeneous Lewis acids catalyst, such as Bi triflate, under very mild reaction conditions. To evaluate the green potential of the proposed alternative, a simplified life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was followed by comparing the environmental performance of the proposed innovative route to prepare MAGEs with that of the most investigated pathway from glycerol. A considerable reduction of all impact categories considered was observed in our experimental conditions, suggesting that the glycidol-to-MAGEs route can be a valuable integration to the glycerol-to-MAGEs chain. Thanks to the use of primary data within the LCA model, the results achieved are a very good approximation of the real case.
从生产厂内回收利用任何废物代表着每个生物炼制厂的最终目标。在此情况下，从环氧氯丙烷生产厂获得的副产物缩水甘油出发，选择性制备单烷基甘油醚（MAGEs）是一种极具前景的策略。在此，我们报告了在非常温和的反应条件下，使用绿色均相路易斯酸催化剂（如三氟甲磺酸铋）催化缩水甘油与醇反应合成 MAGEs 的方法。为了评估所提出替代方案的绿色潜力，我们通过简化的生命周期评估（LCA）方法进行了评估，将拟议的创新路线制备 MAGEs 的环境性能与最具研究价值的甘油制备 MAGEs 的路线进行了比较。在我们的实验条件下，观察到所有考虑的影响类别都有明显减少，这表明从缩水甘油到 MAGEs 的路线可以成为甘油到 MAGEs 链的有价值的整合。由于在 LCA 模型中使用了原始数据，因此所获得的结果非常接近实际情况。
