CaO–ZrO2 Solid Solution: A Highly Stable Catalyst for the Synthesis of Dimethyl Carbonate from Propylene Carbonate and Methanol

CaO–ZrO₂ prepared by co-precipitation showed to be a well-performed catalyst for the transesterification of propylene carbonate (PC) and methanol. The characterization by X-ray powered diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy indicated that CaO was doped into the lattice of ZrO₂ to form CaO–ZrO₂ solid solution. Such a solid solution was a strong solid base, which was proved by CO₂ temperature program desorption (CO₂-TPD). As a result, the catalyst showed high stability towards the transesterification of propylene carbonate and methanol into dimethyl carbonate with high PC conversion, especially being subjected to the continuous production of dimethyl carbonate at reactive distillation reactor for 250 h without any obvious loss of activity at the PC conversion of 95%.