Synthesis of Ni-NPs impregnated on SiO2 and Ti-SiO2 for the selective reduction of glycerol

TULER, FERNANDO; COMELLI, RAÚL A.; BERENGER-MURCIA, ÁNGEL; CAZORLA-AMOROS, DIEGO

Santa Fe

Workshop; French Argentinean Workshop on Heterogeneous Catalysis; 2023

INCAPE

This work is part of a project for the valorization of glycerol (the “co-product” of biodiesel production) in a biorefinery environment. The continuous increase in biodiesel production generates a simultaneous increase in the availability of glycerol. It motivates scientific researches to use the glycerol as a raw material to produce add-value and energetic compounds. An interesting compound for Argentinean industry is ethylene glycol (EG), due to its high demand and there are no producers in our country. In a previous work, studying different catalysts for the selective reduction of glycerol to obtain EG in gas phase, very good results were obtained with the Ni/SiO2 system prepared by the incipient wet impregnation, which allowed filing patent application and subsequently granted in February 2022 [1]. The aim of this work is to synthesize catalysts by more advanced techniques such as Ni nanoparticle synthesis (Ni-NPs), as well as colloidal Ni-NPs suspensions to impregnate supports, such as SiO2, Ni/SiO2 nanocomposite and synthesis of mesoporous silica and titanosilicates (Ti-SiO2) type supports, which are then impregnate with the Ni active phase. In this way, the objective is to optimize catalytic performance, controlling Ni dispersion, morphology, particle size, and separation between them in the preparation.