Dehydration of Alcohols using Solar Irradiation

Abstract

Over 700 million people in the world live without electricity.  The sun is a viable means to perform chemical reactions without a source of power.  Sunlight was used to thermally drive the dehydration reaction as a green chemistry and alternative energy procedure.  Sunlight can be reflected off of a parabolic mirror (satellite dish covered with metallic tape) to heat a reaction.  Solar irradiation was used to dehydrate alcohols to from alkenes.  The alkenes were distilled using a simple distillation set up.  The produced alkenes were extracted from water and analyzed via gas chromatography.  Many things can affect the rate of reaction, such as UV index, weather forecast, wind speed, and angle of focal point.  The purpose of my research is to explore the use of more environmentally friendly methods for this process to make the procedure more environmentally sustainable.  My data suggests that solar irradiation is an efficient and effective method for dehydrating alcohols.  This research will aid people who lack electricity to run chemical reactions in a green way.