Autothermal Catalytic Partial Oxidation of Glycerol to Syngas and to Non-Equilibrium Products

作者：Rennard David C^*; Kruger Jacob S; Schmidt Lanny D

来源：Chemsuschem, 2009, 2(1): 89-98.

DOI：10.1002/cssc.200800200

• glycerol
• oxidation
• platinum
• rhodium
• steam reforming

Glycerol, a commodity by-product of the biodiesel industry, has value as a fuel feedstock and chemical intermediate. It is also a simple prototype of sugars and carbohydrates. Through catalytic partial oxidation (CPOx), glycerol can be converted into syngas without the addition of process heat. We explored the CPOx of glycerol using a nebulizer to mix droplets with air at room temperature for reactive flash volatilization. Introducing this mixture over a noble-metal catalyst oxidizes the glycerol at temperatures over 600 degrees C in 30-90 ms. Rhodium catalysts produce equilibrium selectivity to syngas, while platinum catalysts produce mainly autothermal non-equilibrium products. The addition of water to the glycerol increases the selectivity to H, by the water gas shift reaction and reduces non-equilibrium products. However, water also quenches the reaction, resulting in a maximum in H, production at a steam/carbon ratio of 2:3 over a Rh-Ce catalyst. Glycerol without water produces a variety of chemicals over Pt, including methylglyoxal, hydroxyacetone, acetone, acrolein, acetaldehyde, and olefins.

• 出版日期2009