Preparation of dimethyl carbonate from methanol and propylene carbonate over Ca-Zr catalyst modified by transition metals

The process generated was the modification of calcium-zirconium catalysts with different types of transition metals and their application to the reaction of methanol and propylene carbonate ester exchange for the preparation of dimethyl carbonate, the evaluation of catalyst activity using a three-necked flask with a serpentine condenser, the analysis of reaction products using the internal standard method, the characterisation of catalysts using XRD, FT-IR, BET, XPS, CO2-TPD and other characterisation tools.

The catalysts were characterised to correlate the catalyst activity with the physicochemical properties of the catalysts and to propose conformational relationships to further guide the development of efficient catalysts.