Waste to wealth: conversion of nano‐magnetic eggshell (Fe3O4@Eggshell) to Fe3O4@Ca(HSO4)2: cheap,green and environment‐friendly solid acid catalyst

Eggshell is a hazardous waste by European Union regulations, so that discarded thousands of tons per year. To convert waste (eggshell) to wealth (catalyst), nano‐magnetic eggshell was prepared based on the nano‐Fe₃O₄, and then the eggshell was converted to Ca(HSO₄)₂ with organic acid, namely, chlorosulfonic acid. Based on the back titration, 5.18 mmol SO₄H group was loaded per gram of the nano‐structure. Using this method eggshell was converted to cheap, green and environment‐friendly solid acid catalyst. The prepared catalyst (nano‐ Fe₃O₄@Ca(HSO₄)₂) was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The activity of eggshell waste‐derived catalysts was successfully evaluated in the synthesis of value‐added products, namely indazolo1,2‐b]‐phthalazinetrione derivatives as a benchmark multicomponent reaction. In addition, design of experiments shows that increase in amount of catalyst (and temperature), boost the reaction yield, especially with steeper slope at higher temperature.