Novel Alternative Production of Bio-Based Chemicals Via One Pot Glycerol and Bio-Ethanol Conversion Using Impregnated 1 %Pd/Mg 2 Al-LDO Derived Catalysts

Abstract

Recently, the trend of bio-based and sustainable societies has led to an increasing production of biodiesel, resulting in a huge amount of glycerol as a waste product from the biodiesel production process. The production of specialty bio-based chemicals from glycerol has been considered as a new opportunity to utilize inexpensive chemicals to valuable chemicals. This study investigated the alternative production of specialty chemicals from glycerol and bio-ethanol co-feed. The purpose of adding bio-ethanol as a hydrogen donor was to enhance the glycerol conversion to valuable products. 1 %Pd impregnated- and parent Mg2Al-layered double oxide catalysts derived from the layer double hydroxide (LDH) were selected as the catalysts. The reaction was performed in a PARR reactor at 180 °C for 4 hours, and the effects of Pd and ethanol addition were observed. The catalysts were characterized by using BET, XRD, TPR, and XPS. The acid-base properties were studied by NH3-TPD and CO2-TPD. The results from pure glycerol feed showed that 53 %, 17 %, 12 %, and 9 % selectivity of propylene glycol, diglycerol, acetol and ethanol, respectively were achieved. Instead, when glycerol and ethanol were used as the mixed feed, 1,2-PDO, acetaldehyde, ethyl lactate and ethyl acetate were observed as the products.