(393b) Microkinetic Analysis of γ-Valerolactone Ring Opening and Decarboxylation over Solid Acids
AIChE Annual Meeting
2016
2016 AIChE Annual Meeting
Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division
Award Session in Honor of Prof. Jim Dumesic III
Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 3:45pm to 4:15pm
On acidic catalyts, valerolactone decarboxylation is likely preceded by ring opening, which forms surface bound alkene-acids that can either desorb as stable products or cleave to form 1-butene and carbon dioxide. Analogous to various alkene chemistries, we cast the reaction pathway as proceeding through a series of alkoxide intermediates. The resulting kinetic model is parameterized at an elementary level using insights from well-studied alkene chemistries and reconciled against experimental data. With a minimal set of variable parameters, we demonstrate good agreement between an elementary-level description of valerolactone decarboxylation and measured production rates in experimental reactors. In a clear nod to Jim and his graduate catalysis course, we employ one of his favorite toolkits to provide a useful and practical framework for interpreting macroscopic kinetic observations at an elementary level.