Abstract:
Because of the rapid development of biodiesel production by the transesterification of vegetable oil, large quantities of glycerol are available as a reaction by-product. One of the most attractive routes to convert glycerol to high value-added products is the catalytic dihydroxylation of glycerol to propylene glycol. In this study, the catalytic activity of dihydroxylation reaction was investigated over CuZnO/A1₂O₃ catalysts prepared by co-precipitation was also examined. It was found that the stability of the co-precipitated catalyst was higher than those of the impregnated catalyst. The TEM, TPR, and XRD measurements revealed that a better catalytic performance of the co-precipitated catalyst was assigned to the highly dispersed copper oxide species in spinel-like matrix.
