| Sumario: | Biomass has been shown as an alternative to fossil fuels for obtaining chemicals. In this work, the transformation of sugars into methyl lactate (ML) at 160 °C was carried out using the layered stannosilicate UZAR-S3 (University of Zaragoza-solid number 3) and the delaminated material UZAR-S4 (University of Zaragoza-solid number 4) obtained from its exfoliation. The exfoliation of UZAR-S3 to UZAR-S4 increased the accessibility of the compounds to the catalytic sites and the medium-strength acidity. Thus, the yield to ML for sucrose transformation increased from 8% for UZAR-S3 to 49.9 % for UZAR-S4. In the reusability tests, the UZAR-S4 catalyst was characterized before and after reaction by several techniques such as X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry analysis, scanning electronic microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and nitrogen adsorption. A deactivation of the catalyst was observed, which was related to carbonaceous deposits that decreased the specific surface area and the pore volume of the catalyst.
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