Preparation of alumina with different precipitants for the gas phase dehydration of glycerol and their characterization by thermal analysis

Abstract

Mesoporous aluminas were prepared using different precipitants at different pH of precipitation and evaluated in the gas phase dehydration of glycerol. Samples were characterized by thermal analysis techniques (TGA, NH3-TPD and TPO), specific surface area measurements, XRD and SEM. The gas phase dehydration of glycerol was performed in a fixed bed quartz tubular reactor at 773 K using a 10% glycerol aqueous solution. Thermogravimetric analysis has revealed the temperature regions of decomposition for the prepared alumina catalyst precursors. The specific surface area and the crystallinity of the samples were dependent on both the pH and the used precipitating agent. Samples precipitated with NaOH presented higher density of acid sites than the samples prepared with Na2CO3, regardless of precipitation pH. The catalytic properties of the prepared aluminas are mainly related to the specific surface area and to acidic characteristics. Conversions of glycerol above 85% were obtained for all samples. The selectivity for glycerol dehydration was strongly related to the amount and strength of acid sites. The best result for dehydration was obtained for samples prepared with NaOH and precipitated at pH = 5. These results are related to the higher specific surface area, greater amount of acid sites and the higher ratio of weak acid sites. TPO revealed the amount of carbon deposited on the catalysts. Samples that showed higher carbon formation also showed a higher production of light olefins, indicating that the formation of carbon is related to the formation of these byproducts. NH3-TPD has shown the ratio of different acid sites on the surface of alumina samples that makes possible to estimate the correlation between the acidity and the catalytic properties.