Synthesis of Hydrotalcites from Waste Steel Slag with [Bmim]OH Intercalated for the Transesterification of Glycerol Carbonate.

Ca-Mg-Al hydrotalcites were prepared by coprecipitation from Type S95 steel slag of Shanghai Baosteel Group as supports of ionic liquid in this paper. Five basic ionic liquids [Bmim][CHCOO], [Bmim][HCOO], [Bmim]OH, [Bmim]Br and ChOH were prepared and their catalytic performance on the synthesis of glycerol carbonate by transesterification between dimethyl carbonate and glycerol was investigated. The characterization results indicated that [Bmim]OH is the best ionic liquid (IL) for the transesterification reaction of glycerol carbonate. The hydrotalcites before and after intercalation by ionic liquid were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDS and the IL were characterized by FT-IR, C-NMR and basicity determination via the Hammett method. The analysis results implied that the dispersion of [Bmim]OH in hydrotalcites reduced the alkali density appropriately and facilitated the generation of glycerol carbonate. The yield of glycerol carbonate and the conversion rate of glycerol reached 95.0% and 96.1%, respectively, when the molar ratio of dimethyl carbonate and glycerol was 3:1, the catalyst dosage was 3 wt%, the reaction temperature was 75 °C and the reaction time was 120 min. The layered structure of hydrotalcites increased the stability of ionic liquid intercalated in carriers, thus the glycerol conversion and the GC yield still remained 91.9% and 90.5% in the fifth reaction cycle.