(266a) Selective Electro-Oxidation of Glycerol to Glycolate On Au/CNT Catalysts

Selective Electro-Oxidation of Glycerol
to Glycolate on Au/CNT Catalysts

Zhiyong Zhang, Le Xin,
Ji Qi, Zhichao Wang, Li Wenzhen

Glycolic acid has a broad range of cleanser applications due to its high
acidity (pK_a=3.83)
and chelation properties with metal ions. However, the current industry
glycolic acid production processes involve formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, or
hydrogen cyanide, all of them are highly toxic
chemicals. In this work, we developed an alternative green approach to produce glycolate with high selectivity through
electro-oxidizing bio-renewable glycerol in alkaline solution on carbon
nanotube (CNT) supported gold catalyst (average particle size: 2.5 nm; 1.0 -
4.5 nm). CNT was used as electro-catalyst support based on the
consideration of its higher electric conductivity, and better durability under
high potentials. It
has been demonstrated that the product distribution from glycerol
electro-oxidation is strongly dependent on the applied anode potential. Under an
anode applied potential of 1.6 V (vs. Standard Hydrogen Electrode, SHE) at
ambient conditions (room temperature and atmosphere),
a selectivity of 85% to glycolate
was successfully achieved with a glycerol conversion of 50%, after 3 hour's
reaction. The detailed reaction pathways will be presented.