Effects of preparation method for titania on silica support on catalyst stability for methyl oleate epoxidation

Biomass is an outstanding raw material instead of fossil fuel because of its renewable and eco-friendly nature. In Southeast Asia in particular, there is an oversupply of palm oil. Converting palm oil into high-value products presents a promising solution. The major composition derived from palm oil is methyl oleate. Methyl oleate can be converted to epoxide product that is used in a broad application in the chemical industry through epoxidation. Ti-based catalyst is a promising candidate catalysts for epoxidation reactions. This work focuses on the epoxidation reaction of methyl oleate with hydrogen peroxide. For Ti-based catalysts, support is essential. The presence of support especially high-surface-area support, like sol-gel-prepared silica enhances the catalytic performance due to the dispersion of TiO2 and the increased surface area and pore volume of the catalyst. For Ti-containing silica catalysts in various silica supports, the activity of sol-gel SiO2-supported Ti exhibited greater catalytic activity than fume SiO2-supported Ti and SBA-15-supported Ti catalysts. Due to its higher surface area and the presence of isolated tetrahedral Ti sites, which serve as the active sites for epoxidation, Sol-gel SiO2-supported Ti via wet impregnation is a promising candidate for methyl oleate epoxidation. The study also examines the influence of the preparation method on stability and found that SG exhibited superior stability to WI as a result of a stronger interactions between active component and support.