Abstract
Unannealed CuNiMoP electrocatalyst was found active in electrochemical oxidation of glycerol, providing over 60% conversion without optimization. Prompted by this result, the same catalyst was investigated for the thermochemical oxidation of glycerol. For the thermochemical oxidation of glycerol using the as-deposited electroless CuNiMoP catalyst, a 23 full factorial design of experiments (two level factorial experiment design with three factors) to assess the influence of temperature (A), reaction time (B) and pressure (C). The major reaction products detected by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were glyceric, hydroxypyruvic, tartronic, oxalic and formic acids. The factors found to be most significant for the production of glyceric and tartronic acids were A, B, C, AB and BC. The highest percent conversion obtained for 30-min and 60-min catalysts was 10.6% and 9.4%, respectively. The presence of lactic acid was observed only for the 60-min as-deposited electroless CuNiMoP/Al2O3 catalyst. The results suggest the feasibility of an inexpensive catalyst based on non-noble metals for the thermochemical oxidation of glycerol through the electroless deposition technique. Some differences exist between the thermochemical and electrochemical product selectivity of the CuNiMoP catalyst, and reasons are suggested for the observed differences.
Highlights
The production and use of fossil fuels have long-standing negative impacts on the global climate, public health, local communities and ecosystem goods and services [1]
No intermediate oxidation products such as aldehydes and ketones were recovered from the thermochemical oxidation carried out within 2-h batch oxidation
As-deposited electroless CuNiMoP/Al2O3 catalyst was successful synthesized, and its thermochemical oxidation ability for glycerol was tested and the comparison made between its thermochemical oxidation products and those of its electrochemical oxidation of glycerol
Summary
The production and use of fossil fuels have long-standing negative impacts on the global climate, public health, local communities and ecosystem goods and services [1]. This motivates the development of renewable energy sources, which include the production of bio-ethanol, biogas and biodiesel [2]. Tartronic acid is a very costly reagent (US$1564.00 per gram), as well as a high-value chemical in the pharmaceutical industry for obesity and osteoporosis treatment. It is used as an anti-corrosive protective agent in boilers and high temperature applications and as an oxygen scavenger in the food industry [2]. It is conceivable that developing inexpensive oxidation catalysts that can be applied to both pure and crude glycerol will potentially make these chemicals more widely available
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