Glycerol as a raw material to the biorrefinery

COMELLI, RAÚL A.

Río de Janeiro

Congreso; 3rd International Congress on Catalysis for Biorefineries; 2015

Instituto Brasilero del Petróleo

Glycerol, the co-product in the biodiesel process, can be fed as a raw material to the biorefinery. Reactions of selective reduction and oxidation, steam reforming, and hydrogenolysis of glycerol were studied to produce added-value chemicals and energetic compounds. Propanediols were produced by selective reduction of glycerol while dihydroxyacetone (DHA) was obtained by selective oxidation; reduction took place in gas phase using Cu supported catalysts while Pt impregnated on potassium ferrierite was used to oxidation in liquid phase, being both catalysts patented. Hydrogen and/or syngas were obtained by steam reforming of glycerol using Ni impregnated on alumina modified with Ce, Co, Mg, and Zr and evaluating different reaction conditions. Hydrogenolysis of glycerol to obtain methanol was preliminary studied using Ru containing catalysts.