Fluorine-doped tin oxide catalyst for glycerol conversion to methanol in sub-critical water

Abstract

In this study, a method for the catalytic conversion of glycerol to methanol in sub-critical water (subCW) is proposed. Glycerol conversion to methanol using the subCW method is a new attempt to the best of the authors’s knowledge and this process was compared with the conventional hydrogenolysis method. For the first time, fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) was applied as a novel heterogeneous catalyst for the conversion of glycerol to methanol. The sub-critical reaction was conducted under optimal and mild conditions at a reaction temperature of 300°C, reaction time of 30min, and at a low pressure sufficient to maintain the liquid phase. Initial feedstock (glycerol) concentration and catalyst amount of 20wt% and 0.01g respectively, were utilized and glycerol conversion and methanol selectivity were measured using gas chromatography-flame ion detector (GC-FID) analysis. Optimum glycerol conversion of ∼80% was achieved, with methanol as the major product with a selectivity of ∼100%. The subCW method can also be applied for extraction processes as well as biomass conversion by optimizing some parameters such as reaction time, catalyst amount, reaction temperatures, and catalyst cyclability.