(544gn) Electroless Cu-Ni-Mo-P Catalyst for Electrooxidation and Thermochemical Oxidation of Glycerol

The consequence of the large increase in worldwide production of biodiesel as alternate fuel has been the glut of glycerol in the market place. Several investigations have been undertaken on ways to convert the excess glycerol resulting from biodiesel production into other useful products including value-added chemicals such as mesoxalic acid, tartronic acid, lactic acid etc. Unfortunately, biodiesel-derived glycerol is contaminated by several species involved or resulting from the trans-esterification process to such a level (65 – 85% purity) that the estimated purification to a 98% purity level can cost as much as five times the cost of the crude glycerol. Interest therefore exists in developing processes that will require minimal purification of the crude glycerol for the production of value added chemicals or for energy generation. A low-cost catalyst able to catalyze crude glycerol oxidation with minimal loss in activity will be very useful in the utilization of crude glycerol resulting from biodiesel product of transesterification process. Partial or incomplete oxidation of glycerol leads to the formation of very useful value-added chemical intermediates while its complete oxidation to carbon dioxide can also be exploited electrochemically for energy generation in direct glycerol fuel cell. In this work, we investigated the use of electroless method to synthesize non-noble metal-based CoNiMoP composites capable of oxidizing glycerol. The CoNiMoP catalyst was evaluated both as electrocatalyst and thermochemical catalyst for the oxidization of glycerol. Results will be presented on the catalysts characterized using SEM, EDX and XRD. Results of investigations conducted on the oxidation of glycerol using the catalyst and the comparative performance of the catalyst as an electrocatalyst and as thermochemical catalyst will be discussed. Discussion of its effectiveness as electro-catalyst when used as prepared, and the effect in its activity by the variations in its metallic components will be discussed.