Hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2 propanediol, at atmospheric pressure, over Cu/Al2O3 catalysts.

M. L. DIEUZEIDE; M. JOBBAGY; AMADEO NORMA

RIO DE JANEIRO

Congreso; 3er International Congress on catalysis for Biorefieries CatBior; 2015

SBC

In the presence of a metallic catalysts and hydrogen, depending mainly on reaction conditions and catalysts characteristic, glycerol can be converted to 1,2-PDO, 1,3-PDO and ethylene glycol [3]. The hydrogenolysis of glycerol can be carried out both in liquid or vapour phase.Catalysts for glycerol hydrogenolysis to 1,2-PDO are based in metals such as Ru, Pd, Rh and Cu [2, 4-10]. In contrast to noble metals based catalysts which present low selectivity to 1,2-PDO due to the cleavage of C-C bond; copper based catalysts combined high glycerol conversion with high selectivity to 1,2-PDO [11]. Various authors have studied glycerol hydrogenolysis in vapour phase at atmospheric pressure [9, 10, 12, 13]. Akiyama et. al [9, 10] have reported that 1,2-PDO can be formed from glycerol with high selectivity over Cu/Al2O3 catalysts at atmospheric pressure, by the application of a temperature gradient to the catalytic bed, since acetol hydrogenation to 1,2-PDO is thermodynamically favoured at low temperatures. In this sense, the aim of the present work is to understand the role of copper loading over the hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2-PDO at atmospheric pressure, employing copper based catalysts supported on alumina.