A Kinetic Study on the Synthesis of Dimethylcarbonate by Using Immobilized Ionic Liquid Catalyst

Ionic liquid immobilized on mesoporous amorphous silica was prepared from the coupling of 1-(triethox- ysilylpropyl)-3-n-alkyl-imidzolium halides with tetraethyl orthosilicate(TEOS) through template-free condensation under strong acidic conditions. The immobilized 1-n-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium bromide ionic liquid on amorphous silica(BMImBr-AS) was proved to be an effective heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of dimethyl carbonate(DMC) from transesterification of ethylene carbonate(EC) with methanol. High temperature, high carbon dioxide pressure and long reaction time were favorable for the reactivity of BMImBr-AS. Kinetic studies based on two step reactions revealed that the proposed reaction model fitted well the experimental data. The apparent activation energy was estimated to be 67.4 kJ/mol.