Issue 5, 2019

Efficient production of lactic acid from sugars over Sn-Beta zeolite in water: catalytic performance and mechanistic insights

Abstract

Template-free synthesis of Sn-Beta zeolite was realized by oil-heated crystallization within 36 h. The Sn-Beta zeolite with a high surface area of 623 m2 g−1 can efficiently catalyze the one-pot hydrothermal conversion of various sugars to lactic acid. Under the reaction conditions of 200 °C with a helium pressure of 4.0 MPa, the conversion of all sugars exceeds 98% within 30 min, and the yield of lactic acid reaches as high as 67.1%. For glucose conversion to lactic acid, further experiments demonstrate the essential role of the Lewis acid site at the different stages of the reaction, which is attributed to the isolated skeleton Sn in the zeolite, consistent with our and previous computational studies on this reaction. Our calculations further reveal the important role of the Brønsted acid site of moderate strength, such as lactic acid itself, in the conversion of glyceraldehyde to pyruvaldehyde, an important step in the formation of lactic acid from glucose, resulting in self-catalysis.

Graphical abstract: Efficient production of lactic acid from sugars over Sn-Beta zeolite in water: catalytic performance and mechanistic insights

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Jan 2019
Accepted
11 Mar 2019
First published
13 Mar 2019

Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2019,3, 1163-1171

Efficient production of lactic acid from sugars over Sn-Beta zeolite in water: catalytic performance and mechanistic insights

Y. Sun, L. Shi, H. Wang, G. Miao, L. Kong, S. Li and Y. Sun, Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2019, 3, 1163 DOI: 10.1039/C9SE00020H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements