Hydrogenolysis of Glycerol to Produce 1,3-Propanediol

• Main Author: Saad, Nur Diyana
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2013
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/8464/1/Hardbound%20Dissertation%20FYP2.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/8464/

Currently the large surplus of glycerol formed as a by-product during the production of biodiesel offered an abundant and low cost feedstock. Researchers showed a surge of interest in using glycerol as renewable feedstock to produce functional chemicals. The main objective of this project is to find the most effective reaction temperature and pressure that gives highest high selectivity and good conversions and selectivity towards the production of 1,3-propanediol. This is because the product of glycerol hydrogenolysis conventionally preferred towards ethylene glycol and 1,2-propanediol. The effects of reaction temperature and hydrogen pressure on hydrogenolysis process were studied. There are few stages involved in completing this project which are; i) development of supported bi-metallic catalyst via incipient wetness impregnation method, ii) characterized the catalyst prepared by temperature program reduction (TPR), temperature program desorption (TPD), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR), iii) perform catalytic testing and analysis of the results obtained. Hydrogenolysis of glycerol to propylene glycol was performed without using any support or catalyst, by using zeolite catalyst support, and copper-nickel catalysts at the optimum operating temperature and pressure obtained earlier.The analysis of the product is done by using gas chromatography (GC) technique. From the results obtained (test with bare zeolite), at the higher reaction temperature and pressure, the conversion of glycerol is high. The optimum temperature and pressure chosen are 200°C and 300 psi respectively. However, there is no selectivity towards 1,3-propanediol. For the reaction with Cu-Ni catalyst, the glycerol conversion is 3.23% And the selectivity towards 1,3-propanediol is 2.05%. While there is no conversion of glycerol for the reaction without any support or catalyst.