First Attempt of Glycidol-to-Monoalkyl Glyceryl Ethers Conversion by Acid Heterogeneous Catalysis: Synthesis and Simplified Sustainability Assessment

The selective preparation of monoalkylglyceryl ethers (MAGEs) is a task for researchers owing to their broad range of applications. In this work, green feedstocks such as glycidol and alcohols were used to prepare MAGEs under mild reaction conditions (80 °C, 3 h, 0.5 mol % catalyst) in the presence of acid heterogeneous catalysts. Nafion shows the best performances in terms of conversion and selectivity to MAGES and also high stability. A comparison of the environmental performances with the most consolidated pathway from glycerol has shown that the usage of glycidol (recovered as a value-added product from Epicerol process) and Nafion leads to a lower impact on ecosystems. In addition, results achieved from a simplified socio-economic analysis show that the innovative route here proposed has potential (at the laboratory scale) of enhancing potential gains and of reducing the social implications resulting from externalities associated with environmental impacts (e.g., CO2 equivalents).