title: Autothermal catalytic partial oxidation of glycerol to syngas and to non-equilibrium products.
abstract: 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(2) by the water gas shift reaction and reduces non-equilibrium products. However, water also quenches the reaction, resulting in a maximum in H(2) 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Rennard
authors.forename: Jacob S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kruger
authors.forename: Lanny D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D005740:Gases / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D005990:Glycerol / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry; D012238:Rhodium / Q000737:chemistry; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D010984:Platinum; D012238:Rhodium; D005990:Glycerol