Glycerol transformation by oxidation in a basic homogeneous medium using a gold catalyst

J. M. MARCHETTI; A. JUAN

Santiago de Chile

Congreso; XV Latin American Congress and Exhibition on Fats and Oils.; 2013

The use of gold catalyst in alcohol oxidation reactions is becoming increasingly important compared to conventional catalyst, such as Pt, Pd, due to its good performance The amount of biodiesel produced in the world is increasing. Therefore, the amount of glycerol is increasing as well, making it a cheap new raw material. Its purification can be a solution; however, the pharmaceutical industry cannot process all the available glycerol. In consequence, different alternatives use needs to be found. Transformation of glycerol into 1,2 and 1,3 propanediol is a suitable alternative. In this work, oxidation of glycerol using gold catalyst in a methanol medium using atmospheric air as oxidant has been studied. This oxidation produces, primarily methyl glycerate, with a higher level of oxidation on the molecule of glycerol, dimethyl tartronate can be obtained and finally dimethyl mexosalate can be produced. Different reaction temperatures, air pressure, amount of catalyst, base content, reaction time, reuse of catalyst have been studied and its effect have been analyzed and compared in order to have a better understanding of the catalyst and the reaction itself. Good final conversion (over 75%), selectivity toward the desirable product s and yield were obtained when 10% (w/w) amount of catalyst is employed in the reaction.