Shortages in fossil fuel resources have led to an increasing drive towards greener fuels based on renewable raw materials. In this context, biodiesel has emerged as a green fuel during the last decades which is accompanied with vast amounts of glycerol. Glycerol, as a versatile platform chemical, can be transformed into value-added products. For instance, oxidation processes for glycerol have been thoroughly investigated with noble metal catalysts (Au, Pd, Pt).[1] However, little attention has been paid on low-cost transition metals in order to tackle economic challenges and limited availability of noble metals. Herein, we present CuCo-based materials as promising catalysts for liquid-phase selective glycerol oxidation. Ordered mesoporous CoO supported Cu nanoparticles showed promising catalytic activities for glycerol oxidation.[2] Intrigued by our first results, further investigations were performed focusing on the influence of the post-treatment of the materials on the structure and the catalytic performance.[3] As-prepared materials (by a facile co-precipitation method) and materials calcined and subsequently reduced under ethanol/N2 gas stream showed higher conversions compared to solely calcined or calcined and subsequently reduced under H2/Ar gas stream samples (Figure 1). Main products identified in the liquid phase were glyceric, glycolic and formic acids. Systematic catalytic studies for differently prepared samples and detailed characterization of the materials allowed the identification of CoO(OH) in contact with CuO as potentially active phases. This knowledge gained marks an important step for catalyst design in order to replace expensive noble metals.

Effect of post-treatment on structure and catalytic activity of CuCo-based materials for glycerol oxidation

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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