Simultaneous separation performance of a catalytic membrane reactor for ethyl lactate production by using boric acid coated carboxymethyl cellulose membrane

Complexation of Boronic Acid with Chiral α-Hydroxycarboxylic Acids and the Ability of the Complexes to Catalyze α-Hydroxycarboxylic Acid Esterification

The complexation of boric acid (BA) with various α-hydroxycarboxylic acids (HCAs) was examined by analyzing the change in the optical rotation after the addition of BA to aqueous HCA solutions, and the catalytic properties of the complexes were examined by catalyzing the esterification of the HCAs. The absolute values of the optical rotation of the HCAs increased with increasing BA-to-HCA molar ratio, and the rate of change of the optical rotation gradually decreased as the BA-to-HCA molar ratio increased, reaching a minimum value at a molar ratio of approximately three. As a catalyst, BA could catalyze the acetylation of hydroxyl groups in addition to the esterification of HCAs. Compared to the conventional synthesis routes of ATBC and ATOC, a synthesis route with BA as the catalyst allowed for a lower frequency of catalyst separation and replacement while providing light-colored products. BA could catalyze the formation of triethyl citrate, and the yield of triethyl citrate reached 93.8%. BA could also catalyze the reaction between malic acid and pinene to produce borneol malate. After saponification of borneol malate, borneol was obtained with a yield of 39%.

Quantitative Immobilization of Phthalocyanine onto Bacterial Cellulose for Construction of a High-Performance Catalytic Membrane Reactor

We report the fabrication of a tetra-amino cobalt (II) phthalocyanine (CoPc)-immobilized bacterial cellulose (BC) functional nanocomposite, CoPc@BC, by quantitative immobilization of CoPc onto a BC membrane. Lab-cultured BC was oxidized by NaIO₄ to generate aldehyde groups on BC for the subsequent CoPc immobilization, the processing conditions were optimized by monitoring both the generated aldehyde content and the resulting CoPc loading. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to characterize the change of the element bonding environment during the functionalization processes. The CoPc@BC functional nanocomposite was utilized for the treatment of reactive red X-3B dye wastewater. The CoPc molecules in the CoPc@BC nanocomposite can function as an “antenna” to adsorb the target anionic dye molecules, the adsorption takes place both on the surface and in the interior of CoPc@BC. A catalytic membrane reactor (CMR) was assembled with the CoPc@BC nanocomposite, the performance of CMR was evaluated based on the catalytic oxidation behavior of reactive red X-3B, with H₂O₂ as an oxidant. Highly-reactive hydroxyl radical (OH) was involved in the catalytic oxidation process, as detected by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Under optimal operating conditions of a flow rate of 6 mL/min, a reaction temperature of 50 °C, and an H₂O₂ concentration of 10 mmol/L, the decoloration rate of CMR was as high as 50 μmol⋅min⁻¹⋅g⁻¹.