(583cn) Hydrogenolysis of Glycerol to 1, 3-Propanediol Over Ru-Cu/Hsiw/Dusy Catalyst

Abstract: Owing to the large surplus of by-product during the production of biodiesel in recent years, more attentions have been attracted to find new applications of glycerol. Propanediols, epichlorohydrin, carboxylic acid esters of glycerol, pyruvate and other important chemical intermediates can be synthesized by glycerol. Among them, propanediols derived from glycerol was believed to be a sustainable process with potential application. Catalysts that used in the hydrogenolysis of glycerol could be divided into noble metal catalyst and inexpensive metal catalyst with a result of higher selectivity to 1, 3-propanediol(1,3-PDO) and lower glycerol conversion rate in the former system. However, 1, 2-propanediol(1,2-PDO) was the main product in the latter system. Recent researches showed the introduction of noble metal and tungstic acid could increase the selectivity to 1, 3-PDO and conversion rate of glycerol. Therefore, a kind of double metal modified USY loaded with silicotungstic acid catalyst was designed and used in the hydrogenolysis of glycerol.

A series of Ru-Cu/HSiW/DUSY were prepared with dynamic immersion method, characterized with XRD, NH₃-TPD, FT-IR, TEM, SEM and tested for the hydrogenolysis of glycerol in a 100ml autoclave. The influence of reaction time, temperature, hydrogen pressure and catalyst amount was investigated and at a optimum condition of 200℃, 3.5h, 3.5MPa H₂ and 6wt% of 0.5Ru-20Cu/10HSiW/DUSY, 79.5% conversion of glycerol with 16.0% selectivity to1, 3-PDO was achieved.