Bio-based chemical production from glycerol conversion with ethanol co-feeding over Zr-promoted MgAl-layered double oxide catalysts: Impact of zirconium location

Abstract

Nowadays, the increasing environmental concerns and the reduction of fossil fuels are the reasons for the enlargement of transformation processes from biomass to useful compounds. 1,2-propanediol, produced from the hydrogenolysis of glycerol, is prominent to uses in various applications. However, the reaction needs hydrogen as a significant factor; therefore, most of the published articles reported the uses of external H2 that has flammability and high diffusivity. So, the in-situ generation and simultaneous consumption of H2 in the glycerol hydrogenolysis have been adopted in this study. The effects of zirconium and its location on glycerol hydrogenolysis for the production of 1,2-propanediol were investigated by using the Zr partially-substituted layered double oxide (Zr0.38Mg4.43AlO), and the 20% of co-fed ethanol was anticipated to provide in-situ H2 to supply 1,2-propanediol production. In comparison, a ZrO2-loaded MgAl-layered double oxide (ZrO2/Mg4.41AlO) was also tested in order to investigate the impact of Zr location on the catalyst. The results revealed that the higher ability in H2 formation of the ZrO2/Mg4.41AlO catalyst led to the higher 1,2-propanediol production, and the Zr0.38Mg4.43AlO catalyst provided a lower 1,2-propanediol selectivity because 1,2-propanediol was further converted to other products.